Watch As We Burn
by bleububbletea
Summary: Set during the time of The Taken King - Crota, son of Oryx, slain. Now, the father rises to finish what his son started. In this time of Darkness, who will rise against him? No one will come out unscathed, no one. Who can defeat the Destroyer of Worlds? A tainted Guardian, a Cryptarch apprentice, two Titans, a Hunter, and a Warlock? And will the ones we trust most ..betray us?
1. Prolouge

Kyrine cracked her eyes open, wind rushing past her, her soft white hair tossed in the soundless movement.

 _Today is today, tomorrow is yesterday, I am here now._

She got up, slowly and rubbed her eyes. Her eyes looked to the wall of windows, that showed her the Last City. It was already busy. People already up, going to work, eating breakfast. Normal lives.

 _Normal..._

She stood from her place on the floor. Why was it windy in here? Looking across the room she saw windows open, and crisp winds blew around. Sniffing, her nose clogged up, she frowned.

"Why was I on the floor?" She softly said, and looked at her pajama attire. Deep blue shorts and an over-sized Star Wars shirt. "Must've been ready to sleep.."

Walking up to the wall of windows, she opened them, letting all the wind into her loft. Her long blue hair flew back and chill bumps appeared on her bare legs and arms, her bangs pressed against her forehead. And for a moment, everything was gone. The Hive, Cabal, Fallen...

Blank bliss.

The shill ring interrupted her thoughts, and she sighed, opening her eyes. She rubbed her face, the white war paint falling onto the black carpet. Kyrine walked to the kitchen unit to see her Ghost floating and ringing.

"Miss, I think you have a call." It said, and she sighed and slid into one of the bar stools.

"Who?"

"Miss Erin."

She closed one eye, "Answer it, then turn off these lights and open all the windows."

"Yes, Miss." The Ghost beeped, and the ringing stopped, replaced with Erin's bubbly face.

"'Rine!" She shrilled, the hologram produced static at her scream. Kyrine leaned back and crossed her arms, looking at the projection and then at her Ghost as the lights went off and the windows let in more soft wind. She breathed in through her mouth and sighed, feeling relaxed.

"Erin." Her bluex eyes opened.

"Why didn't you answer my calls last night? Me and Justin were worried sick! Nate said that you had went home, so-" Her brown eyes were narrowed in worry, and her nose scrunched up, her thin lips accusing.

"Shush," The Awoken drew out the s, like she was scolding a child. "I am fine, I can't even remember what happened last night, to be honest." Her voice was heavy, and she was lying. Her body ached and her insides felt odd and hollow.

And for a second. She felt as if she wasn't supposed to be here, that she was completely hollow without purpose. Kyrine felt out of place, out of plane.

"Well you look rough," Her image cut in and out. "Your war paint is chipped and your hair is down, and messy..did you dress yourself?"

Biting her lip, she hissed has her lip was bleeding from an unknown wound. Now that she thought about, she didn't dress herself.

"Uh." She coughed. "No, I didn't."

Erin's plump face contorted and her mouth quirked downwards. "Can I come over?"

"Ghost, what time is it?" Kyrine said, looking past her friends hologram.

"10:38, Miss." It said.

She looked back at an impatient Erin. "Yeah." _Don't really have that much else to do._

"Good," She snorted. "because I'm already here." And with that, the call was ended and her door swung open, and a angry short woman stomped in.

"Y-You were at the door?" Kyrine stuttered as she stumbled out of the stool and into her friend, who braced her shoulders, looking into her friends eyes intently, zeroing in on the purple circles that blotched beneath her eyes.

"Yes, and I'm glad I was. What happened to you?" Erin was tan, with thin lips and a big nose and almond shaped eyes.

"I-I don't know." Erin led her to her bedroom unit, holding her by her arm.

"You should know." The brunette mumbled irritably. Kyrine huffed, eyelids growing heavy suddenly.

Erin snapped her fingers in front of the Guardians face, and shoved her on the bed. "Stay here."

Kyrine looked wide eyed now at her human friend. She didn't know what happened last night, and she didn't want to know either. For starters, her legs were bruised and so where her arms. And her lip was swollen and bleeding.

 _I woke up on the floor._

And she didn't dress herself. Numbness crawled up her stomach.

"You have bruises everywhere, and your lip is swollen." She walked back to the spacious kitchen, and started rummaging around in the fridge. "Ghost, give me and Kyrine a recall of last night, will you?" She called from the kitchen, placing two bags of ice and a fruit bar on the counter.

"Miss?" The Ghost looked at its master for conformation.

Kyrine looked out the window from her loft apartment, thinking. "Yes, please." She didn't want know, anticipation built up, and she began to feel lightheaded.

Erin looked over into the bedroom, and furrowed her eyebrows to herself. Concern grew as she heard her friends distorted voice, that wasn't usual. After getting a cool cup of water, she grabbed the ice and fruit bar.

The Awoken pawed at the nightstand, and it hurt to move, but she grabbed her glasses and pushed them up her nose, and took the fruit bar Erin handed to her.

The Ghost's kind voice echoed through the loft as Erin put ice on her friend's legs and lip, "Last night, Miss came home from the Tower, with Nathaniel." Erin scowled at the name. "We had gone to Phobos to check a Cabal distress signal..."

Erin interrupted, "Cabal?"

Blinking, Kyrine started to remember, she tore open the bar and bit a small piece. "Yes...the Cabal."

Erin, not being a Guardian, had only heard of the fierce war aliens that currently inhabited Mars, and Phobos. "Continue." She covered Kyrine with the fuzzy burgundy duvet.

As the Ghost explained to Erin what had happened, Kyrine remembered everything. The shock, Zavala's voice in her helmet, Nate's calming words to sooth the shock. Dark matter plastered throughout the Cabal ship, the machine-aliens being sucked up by a void. Looking into universal matter, hearing whispers call out to her and her partner.

Oryx.

The Taken.

Screams of the Cabal, of the Taken. Her own screams.

Her lip throbbed, and she reached up to feel it, but her finger passed through it. Leaning up painfully, she looked into the mirror on her nightstand.

Black matter, like on Phobos, had begun dripping from her lip and staining her lips black, the throbbing stopped, and numbness took hold. Her lip was infested with Darkness. She took off her red glasses, putting them back on the nightstand.

 _Oh no. No, no._

"..She must have passed out, she had shut me down. I do not know who dressed her. But I suspect, judging by my pain sensors, that the bruises and wounds must have come from the Taken."

"The Taken?" Erin's voice sounded, and she looked down at her friend. Her eyes were no longer blue. Her pupils were dilated, dazed. Remembering.

" Oryx's..minions of...Darkness." Kyrine's voice sounded, her breathing labored, her chest felt numbed and she couldn't feel her pulse.

"Kyrine, are you alright?"

"Miss?"

Pain welled, bloomed everywhere. Dots danced in her vision. Her head hurt. It reminded her of the universal matter that had called to her.

Erin panicked as her looked down at her friend, black spots appeared on the duvet, but it was not blood.

"Ghost, what's happening?" Erin yelled. The Ghost was silent. The last of her screams echoed throughout the loft as the door opened.

"Erin? Why is there screaming?" A deep voice yelled.

"K-Kyrine! She's gone! Nate, she's gone! Her Ghost is powered down!"

Nate ran to the bed, her blue hair was a mess, black ooze pouring from her bleeding lip, and black matter stained to covers. War paint was chipped and broken away and her bangs had been plastered to her fore head. And her glowing skin was fading out to a matte blue-gray. Her blue-white eyes were open.

His heart shuddered. But she wasn't dead. She couldn't be.

"Min, check her vitals. We have to get her to the Tower. Erin. Get Sean and Sarah, meet us at the Tower." He picked her up, his shirt straining against his muscles as he hefted her into his arms. Erin set the little white Ghost on her chest.

Min, Nate's ghost, spoke.

"Her light is there, master. She is not alive, but not dead either. She hovers between planes of existence. We must take her to Eris Morn."

"Transport us to the Tower, Min."

He looked at Erin, her eyes were puffy and she was silently sobbing. "S-She was fine this morning! She just seemed tired, but not sick or about to die. You can't let her die, you can't, you can't, you can't!"

Nate scowled, sweat beading on his dark skin. "I won't, meet us at the tower."

She tried to nod, but sobs wracked her body as Nate and Kyrine materialized out of the loft.

Erin looked around, and slid to her knees. She pulled back to covers, and saw nothing. Nothing of the dark matter the Ghost spoke of. Black ooze on the covers wasn't there either. Her hands gripped the covers and she screamed. She had heard stories about when Guardians die. They weren't supposed to die. They're immortal until killed.

Kyrine couldn't be killed. No.

She laid her head down on her friend's pillow.

Her hands fumbled for her phone, the thin, sleek device was cold in her hands.

She put it to her ear, clamping her hand over her mouth.

"Erin? Hello?"

"Justin, we have to get to the Tower, n-now." She hiccuped through her hand, sniffling.

"Erin, what happened?"

She sputtered. "Kyrine, and N-Nate, Cabal, Taken..Tower." The words poured out of her.

"Hang on, I am coming." The line went dead and Erin shook.

A new enemy. Oryx.

Nate gripped his friend in his arms. She felt so frail and thin, like as her Light diminished, she did physically as well.

"Her Light is dying, Master. We must hurry."

He ignored his Ghost, and sprinted once they landed at the Tower. Kyrine was getting lighter by the minute, he ignored it as he pushed himself to go faster, looks were thrown at him as he flew down the steps.

"Eris!" He bellowed as he turned the corner.

"Titan." She said somberly. Her mouth had been in a straight line, now he felt terror roll off her in waves. "Oh no. Not again." She touched Kyrine's skin, and recoiled like she was burnt.

"The Taken-" He started, but she had already begun down the hall, to the Vanguard.

"Bring her, now."

Nate stepped past the threshold of the Vanguard's headroom. "Oryx, the whispers. Ikora, her Light."

The dark skinned Warlock stepped forward, worry etched into her features. "Zavala, what happened with the Cabal?"

Nate spoke up when Ikora Rey's hands drifted over the diminishing Awoken. "That is not the problem at hand right now. She is becoming Dark, her existence drifting away from this plane. Eris, you have to do something!" His voice rising.

She looked up to the angry Titan. "Guardian. Put her on the table."

Nate looked down upon her serene face, and his eyes narrowed when he saw black matter spreading from her lips to her cheek, swallowing her being. Taking her away.

 _No._

Her eyes, wide open, yet empty. Paralyzed, being tugged through the planes. Black matter swallowed her eyeball, and her eyelid hung grotesquely.

Nate snapped out of his daze, realizing he was loosing her more by the second. And he placed her on the long table.

"Nathaniel! We're here!" Erin's voice slammed through the doors and echoed throughout the room.

Her eyes were still puffy, her hair fell in a frenzy around her shoulders. Jo, Sarah, Sean, and Justin were behind her, Jo had confusion plastered to her face, while Sarah had a look of determination.

Sean was in disbelief. He had gotten the call from Justin, explaining, or trying to, what happened to Kyrine. Sarah had been with him at the time, and had been frozen in her spot for a second before she reassured the man that Kyrine was going to live.

Now, Sarah looked upon her friend on the table, Darkness eating at her face. And wasn't so sure she would.

Eris' somber voice was directed at Erin. "The cryptarch apprentice." Then to Sarah. "And the bookworm. I remember you. We need to get to work."

Zavala had a hand on Kyrine face, on the half that wasn't eaten away. "It seems to be a disease of some sort. Ikora?"

The Vanguard Warlock was still distressed. "It isn't infectious to touch, we need to do something and quick. We cannot afford to loose more Guardians."

Cayde looked over to Eris. "It is Oryx, right?"

"I do not know. But by the minute, she grows fainter. We need to do _something._ Or she will belong to the cosmos. Let me see her." Eris sounded tentative, and almost worried. Scared.

She pulled back Kyrine's shirt, and reeled back. Her ribs protruded, and dark matter stained her lower abdomen and legs, eating away skin. No blood, only Darkness.

"In all my years of being in the Dark, I have never seen this. She will not live."

Nate yelled, roaring. "No! She will NOT! There has to be SOMETHING, you can't let her die, Morn. You can't and you won't."

Sarah walked down the steps, as the others were frozen in place. "There is something." Eris looked to her. "But I do not wield the power to do it."

"As the Light drains, and soul is being pulled to Darkness. She is not going to reside on either plane, Eris. She will belong to Oryx. His minion. That is what is happening, this is what they witnessed on Mars. The beginning of an army." Eris whispered to herself. "I felt it when they returned. The whispers. The Hunter had been injured by what we know now, as the Taken. It is a virus, thrust forward by Oryx."

She looked to the faces, varied emotions in the room.

"And we must stop it. With light."

Zavala yelled to group on the stairs. "Get the speaker. And hurry, she will be lost soon."

Sarah leaned toward Nate. "She'll be fine."

He looked back at her, his dark eyes searching. "What was that 'something' you were talking about. Can it save her?"

The blonde looked down, and ringed her hands. "Possibly. Eris knows of what I speak. While we have not seen this before, we realize it as Darkness. A property not understood fully, an abyss that will suck you up, in a sense. But all Darkness can be burned with light, right? I low, kindled flame, to bring back bits and pieces of what was. To bring Krine," She gestured to the woman on the table. "back."

He grunted, realization blinked his brain. "And who better to wield light then the Speaker, the Voice of the Traveler?"

Eris rested a hand on Sarah. "Yes, my Guardian. You understand well." Sarah smiled at Eris.

"I heard the Voice was needed." A low voice spread through the room. Jo stood behind the Speaker, her being the one who brought him. His arms were in his sleeves, and his voice was calm.

"Speaker," Cayde spoke up. "We need your Light, as one of our Guardians has been infected with spreading Darkness." He sighed. "Now I'm starting to sound like Eris."

She cocked her head. "Not a bad thing. Speaker, lay out your Light on this Guardian, save her from the Dark."

The sound of him breathing in unnerved Nate. "We are going to loose her, please, help us." He pleaded, for the first time he could remember. He pleaded for help.

The Speaker walked down the steps, and turned to the distraught Titan. "Of course, for the Traveler does not want to loose it's Guardians to Darkness."

Erin spoke up, "Thank you." She was now staring at her friend, who was becoming more grotesque and more inhuman by the second, her fingers touched her hair, which had turned brittle and no longer soft.

As the figure, clothed in white, stepped up to the table, and placed his hands on the woman. Light spread through his hands, and into the almost consumed girl.

The room filled with screeches and shrieks, whispers echoed. Ghastly cries, inhuman filled the corner of every corner, touching all ears. Scarring all minds.

"No! No! Please, no!"

Whispers surrounded everyone, a scratchy voice scraped against all of them, and a loud screech deafened all.

Kyrine was shaking, her eye now open and her half eaten mouth opened and shrieked. Her back arched, and her ribs, the white bones stuck out of her, red caked them and Darkness bathed them, Light pushed, her screams matched the whispers, like nails on chalkboard.

The voice that came out of her, was not hers.

Her remaining eye was swallowed by pure whiteness, a dull milky white.

 _'She is mine! Fear Oryx, father of Crota! For you have slain my son! The Guardian is MINE! You all are fools. Sacrifice, to save yourselves!'_

Her black lips moved with every word Oryx had spoken through her, and the whispers only go louder. Nate and Sarah stared in shock, and fear rooted them. Erin was sobbing her hands clawing, trying to reach her friend, Justin held her back while Sean gaped and Jo's nails dug into the hard table as she looked up. Kyrine's lips stopped moving, as the Speaker ignored the frightening threat and poured more Light into her.

"Sean, look up." Jo said gravely. He looked up, his eyes narrowed at Oryx's face. Everyone looked up to the apparition, staring as he looked down upon them. Kyrine screamed, a human scream of pain as she was pulled back from the Dark. From pain, the suffering.

Her yells and pleas teared through the people standing in the room.

 _'Your Light, will not burn the Dark!'_

Erin had covered her ears, though her mouth moved no sound came out, the whispers clawed at her ears, filled her brain with scratching noises. Chanting rose above the whispers and screams of the Guardian on the table, Eris's voice rose above Oryx's, and his minions haunting shrills.

Foreign words reached around the room, and slowly, the minions of Darkness slunk back with Oryx, till the only sound in the room was the human screams of pain.

Green light emitted from Eris, a pure form of the Dark, her hat fell away and black hair wreathed her head. Her eyes glowed, looking at Oryx.

One last chant emitted from her mouth, and Oryx's apparition faded from view.

Eris looked up, her three green eyes staring holes into the Guardians.

Kyrine had stopped the wails, as the light bathed her warmly. Mending her, burning away the Dark. Warmth was all she felt as her eyelids fluttered shut, and the only sounds that were heard, were Erin's soft sobs.

"We shall now watch was we burn them, as they have burned us. Now. We have a new enemy-"

Her eyes looked to everyone. Zavala was speechless, Ikora, for once not having knowledge of what occurred, was rooted to her spot, and scared. Cayde maintained a steady eye over his Hunter on the table. Nate's mouth was agape, looking into Eris. Jo and Sean grasped each others hands, while Justin held a crying Erin.

"-Oryx, will come for us all."

"Today..is today. Tomorrow is..yesterday. I, am here..Now."  
 _-_

 _Prologue, end. Finished- 1/2/16_


	2. One

Blinking, I sat up. My hands flew to the bandage surrounding my abdomen, and I pushed the blanket down. I did not feel pain, I only felt out of place as my fingers ghosted across my naked chest, and started picking and undoing the bandages.

I do not remember how I got here.

The bandage fell apart, and although it was without blood, there was an ugly scab on my stomach.

I looked up, brushing my messy bangs back, and twisting my hair as I looked around the room.

It was white, with a big window to my right, letting me see the City below me. I was in the infirmary. The metal table beside me had a bowl full of blue water and a plate with purple food on it, and a packet of dough. My stomach growled loudly, and my face felt warm as I looked around the small room, making sure no one heard it.

I shifted, swinging my legs over the bed, cautious, but feeling fine. I don't understand why I am in the infirmary, unless it has to do with the wound across my lower body.

I wrapped the thin blanket around my body, because I'm naked. I took the packet of dough, ripped it open from the tab and pushed it into the bowl of water, watching as it expanded into soft, crusty bread. Grabbing it, I put it on the plate and grabbed the stick of purple food off the plate. I stood, wobbling with food in my hands.

 _I haven't walked in a while._

I walked around the bed to the window, and sat in a wheeled chair that was in front of it. I sat the plate on my lap, taking the purple food and picked a piece off and shoved it into my mouth, and my face scrunched up as I pushed it around in my mouth.

 _Forgot that this crap is made out of pure minerals, and not taste..._

I had forgotten the name of it, but it felt like putty, and was soft and squishy texture wise. And purple. Not known for it's taste, it was invented to give to Guardians who were on long missions, to provide them with the provided vitamins and minerals, and to sate long-term hunger. Not the best tasting thing, but I wasn't hungry anymore.

I choked it down and snatched the bread rather quickly to wash down the raw taste when I heard a voice. "Miss, you're awake."

My eyes widened, and my posture went rigid. Holding my bread to my chest protectively, I jumped out of the wheel chair and flung it around, looking for the source of the voice and stepping carefully around the small room.

When I didn't see any source of the voice, I relaxed. Maybe it's just the medic bot outside of the door, my hand loosened its grip on the thin blanket.

I let out a sigh, then a white blob popped in front of me and I screeched, the blanket around me falling and I threw my bread at it, which knocked the thing back a few feet.

I landed on my bum, looking up wildly, and twisted the blanket around my person. I inhaled sharply, trying to regain the breath that was knocked out of me.

"Awake, and already defending yourself I see, Miss."

I cleared my throat, swallowing saliva, the weird taste of the purple mineral food stuck in my esophagus. "Ghost." I breathed, my eyes adjusting to the floating bot. My feet still remained planted in a defensive stance.

He hovered closer, nudging my arm. "Sit, you vitals are still abnormal." He glided to the chair, the thin plate still on the armrest. I stood, and rubbed my bum with a free hand. "Maybe they're abnormal because you scared me."

"I apologize, Miss. You have been asleep for a day, your recovery was going quicker then the Vanguard thought."

 _Recovery?_

"What do you mean recovery, Ghost?" I questioned, sitting down on the wheeled chair, on the way picking up my discarded bread.

It was quiet for a moment, and I was beginning to think it shut down when its solemn voice murmured. "You don't remember."

Annoyed, my voice had a hard edge. "What do you mean? What don't remember? Ghost?"

Its body was positioned elsewhere, not in my direction, like he was ignoring me. Anger spiked up. "Hello?" What the hell? What don't I remember? Maybe I am not trying hard enough. Ghost was still silent, and I felt my skin raise in bumps, anticipation crawling up my arms and legs. Whatever I don't remember, I can't be good.

"Kyrine, Miss," It corrected itself, it hardly ever used my name, and only addressed me as Miss. "What was the last thing in your memory?"

Anger spiked, and fluxed. The anxiousness smothered it as I thought. "Me and Nate were called in to check out a distress signal on Phobos. It was the Cabal, they were being attacked by something I cannot remember." I looked the City through the window, my hands gripping the armrest. "I remember seeing Cabal, dying by what had attacked them, crawling towards us. Desperate, almost. Something had killed them off, but we didn't know what had. It wasn't a Guardian, as no one had been told aside from us to go to Phobos."

I bit my lip hard, and my head started to throb painfully. "G-Ghost, what can't I remember?"

It floated into my view. "Miss, it was the Taken."

T-Taken? Oryx! Cabal against Cabal, dark matter. Taken getting to close and ripping into my skin. I remember the pain that seared through my body, unlike anything I had felt before.

My loft..Erin. Dark matter dripping from my lips, staining the blanket. Waking up in the Tower, surrounded by Vanguard and the Speaker. I had stood on the planes, life and Taken, hovering over me. The pain..oh gods, the pain..

I cried, wails and sobs. Shamelessly, I wept in the chair, my head buried into my hands, tears moist against my palm.

"Miss?"

Oryx, I am marked. Marked by the Taken King.

Tears flowed down my face, into my mouth as I gaped, mouth open, staring at nothing. I felt pain overcome me again, remembering what I had felt. Hearing the screams and shrieks of the Taken in my ears again, screeches, ritualistic words seared into my mind.

I whipped my head to my Ghost. "Oryx,"

"Yes. I am sorry, Miss. For what you had to endure. I was not awake at the time of your healing. It is miraculous you are up and about already. The infection is very odd indeed.." It drifted off, as if analyzing me.

My face was still streaked with dry tears, that didn't seem to go away. I felt hostile towards my robotic partner. "I am not some experiment, Ghost. Keep you evaluations to yourself." I snapped at it.

"I apologize-"

"Where is Nate? I need to talk to him." I muttered, standing up, and rubbing my eyes. My voice was thick and heavy. I felt disgusting. I needed him. He was there, on Phobos, with me.

"According to my calculations, he is in the Hall of Guardians, along with our friends and the Vanguard. But Miss, I must impose on your thoughts. You must stay here until a medic checks you, you r recovery wasn't expected for another two weeks."

I didn't respond as I stood and flicked the bot with my finger, interrupting his next words. There were clothes beside the table, on a counter. I put on a pair of black yoga pants, the hunter insignia on the thigh in blue, and a tank top with underwear. I frowned as I heard Ghost speak up about something else.

I growled, my anger rising again, and I grabbed a black satchel from the counter. I peeked inside, and found my shorts and my Star Wars shirt.

I threw it across my shoulder, stomping towards the automatic door, and exited the small confined room. The white walls of the hospital wing of the tower were sickening, and made me feel nauseous. As I headed towards the lifts, images of Oryx, and his voice rang through my head. It was getting louder, and my head throbbed more.

I entered the lift, and hit the _'top'_ button, closing my eyes trying to sooth the pain by taking deep breaths. My abdomen hurt, and I placed a hand on my stomach, expecting to see black matter appear on my fingers.

"Miss!" My Ghost appeared, and I glared.

"What?" I growled, the pain made me irritable. And the voices wouldn't silence.

"You need to come ba-" The doors opened and I grabbed it, shoving my finger in its optics as it shut down, and I shoved it in the satchel as I arrived in the tower Hangar. I snapped the flap and marched, barefoot, up the sets of stairs. I passed the cryptarch, pain oddly making me go faster. Voices blocked out everyone else, and the only thing I could hear was chanting, and Oryx's dirty, vengeance laced words.

My eyes blurred as I went down the steps, tears leaking. The pain was horrible, the voices were horrible. I felt out of place, like I was walking on air towards nothing.

But I had a destination, I tried to remember what it was. The more I thought, the more the voices grew, consuming my thought process, and I cried harder.

Sniffling, I continued, heading straight. I must be down here for a reason, and straight is the only option.

The doors were closed, but as I got closer, my head started to clear. The pain subsided, dulling.

I still cried, I was confused, feeling horrible. Like a child that didn't get their way, I felt like stomping my foot in anger.

I kicked my foot against the door, my fists punching the door to where my friends are. I was so close to not feeling pain, whatever was making it go away was beyond the door, and I wanted it. I kicked and punched harder. I didn't feel like a Guardian, protector of Light. I felt lonely and angry, without a place.

My fist raised, anger spurting through me, uncontrollable tears poured, then the door opened, and my fists dropped.

Sniffling I ran towards what the pain told me to, I thumped into something hard and warm. My palm rested above me, and the pain stopped.

And I felt in place, normal. Fine. Sniffing, I buried my head into what I held onto.

The voices stopped and my head was silent, the room was silent. The pain was silent. My hair was messy and greasy, and I probably smelled, but I didn't care. Everything had stopped.

"Kyrine?" I heard my name, and I realized that the thing I was against, was a person. Because as they said my name, their chest vibrated.

"How..how is she up?" I heard a woman's voice, now. Ikora Rey, judging by her voice pitch.

Next, a soft and unsure voice. Sarah. "I..I do not know, ma'am."

"Kyrine." The same voice. Deep, welcoming.

"Mhm?" I mumbled, my senses felt overridden. I could feel the material of his undershirt, and I knew what material it was. And I could feel dust particles on my nose. And the coolness of the floor against my bare feet was calming. My eyes were shut, but I placed my chin on the persons chest, and looked up, opening my eyes.

Chiseled features, strong jawline. Deep brown eyes. Nate.

"Nate, I need to see you." I said, slightly dazed.

This is confusing..how did he stop everything? He's like a safe haven.

He didn't smirk his usual smirk, his eyes widened, as if he was realizing something, and then I noticed the dark circles underneath his worried gaze. Next thing I knew, my bones felt like they were about to break. He's hugging me, and I feel it. As in..feel it. I feel it differently. The emotion, energy behind it. I hugged him back.

"You're alive." He muttered into my hair, his hand on the back of my head. "After all that..you're alive."

I frowned. What? Was I not supposed to make it? Did they..did they doubt that I was going to make it? My grip slackened on him. Did _he_ doubt?

I was pulled off of my friend and was face to face with Eris Morn, and her three shielded eyes. "Guardian."

"Eris Morn." I looked at her, and I could see the eyes moving from beneath the net material. I don't understand. Why can I see these things, and feel these things?

"I hear the whispers of your soul, silent. No more of the Dark. No more of the Taken King." Her ominous voice raking my mind.

I took a step closer to her, feeling compelled. "Were you chanting?" I was blunt with her, but it seems as though she did not mind. As I stepped farther away from Nate, I heard the voices growing louder, but no chanting. My head throbbed mildly.

"Yes, Guardian. I was. An old chant to protect you from Oryx's plane that he has created. I hope it served you well." Her voice was still grim.

"Guardian. How do you stand, walk, talk?" Ikora Rey took cautious steps toward me. And I sensed doubtfulness.

I back away from Eris, feeling the stares. From everyone, my friends, the Vanguard. None were comfortable. As soon as I hit Nate's figure, the voices died down. Dry tears caked my cheeks, I could feel them, and my hair was frizzy, sticking to my face annoyingly. I must look like a madwoman.

"I.." I thought for a minute, heart heavy. "don't know. When I woke up, I didn't remember anything. The Cabal, Taken, nothing. I didn't remember the last thing I saw, aside from the incident. Nothing. I knew who the people in my life were, friends and things. But not action-type memories, if that makes sense. And I was fine, I got up, I ate, and then my Ghost appeared. Telling me that I don't _remember_.

So I tried, nothing. Then he mentioned the Taken and..I.." My throat clogged, my eyes watered, blinding my sight. "I remembered."

My arms had unconsciously wrapped around myself, and I shoved my palm to my mouth. Oryx's thoughts in my head, the scarring image of what he wanted to do to the City. I saw him. And the Awoken. Gone.

I saw the Queen's fleet taken out before my own eyes.

"And the Awoken army," I mumbled. "gone. Wiped away by Oryx."

For the first time, Zavala spoke. "What?"

"I saw it." The tears stopped, and I felt cold. "I saw them die. The Queen, her brother. The weapon used by Oryx. The Dreadnaught."

Zavala was silent. And under his gaze I felt scrutinized.

Eris spoke up. "Mara Sov realized the sacrifice she made, to help the City, and its Guardians defeat Oryx. With the destruction of herself and of the Awoken, she also took down most of Oryx's fleet. We must honor her sacrifice."

"No..Sov could not have perished. I have already spoken with her, yesterday, after this Hunter was sent to the infirmary for medical help." He paused, still staring at me. "Which she should still be there."

"With all due respect, Sir. I think Kyrine is fine." Nate stated as my back was to him. I twisted and looked up at him. I didn't know what to think, but he defended me. I felt admiration spread.

He hummed discontentedly, and turned his attention to Cayde, who had been quiet. I cocked my head, looking in the EXO's direction. "Cayde. What is your thought on the matter?"

"I think this Hunter, my disciple," He added looking from me to Zavala. "not yours, should be sent home and relax for a few days. We will continue this discussion in private."

I smiled at Cayde.

"You do not hold authority over me, EXO." Zavala said. I narrowed my eyes at him, smile gone. I felt untapped anger rolling off the Titan.

"While that may be true, Zavala, baby, I am this Hunter's mentor. We will continue this in _private_." He stressed sarcastically, crossing him arms.

"You walk on thin ice, Hunter." Zavala said. I couldn't decipher who he was talking to. Cayde smirked.

I turned my head forward. Jo was looking at my with scrutiny, and I felt suspicion from her. I blinked, confused. Its as if she is ready to throw void energy at me.

Sean was beside her, his eyes on me. Relief, is the only thing I sensed from him. Sarah was beside him, she was intrigued.

"Where is your Ghost, Guardian? I do not feel its Light." The Speaker had been quiet, until he stepped forward.

I fumbled with the lip of my bag and dug out my Ghost that I had turned off. "Here," He stepped forward, taking it out of my hands. Gently, he pressed into its optics and the Ghost lit up, a whirring sound and a burst of music and it was on and floating.

"Miss!"

I cupped it in my hands. "I am sorry, Ghost."

"I understand, Miss. I see your vitals are normal."

"Vitals?" Ikora spoke up, and the Speaker bowed to the Ghost before stepping away.

"Why yes, Miss Rey. My Miss here was experiencing something I have never encountered before. She still pressed to leave the infirmary, and she did. Then shut me off." Its voice echoed. And everyone was silent.

"Kyrine?" I heard Sarah's voice. "What does he mean 'vitals'?"

"Its not a he. Its an it." I said back.

"I am a programmed male, Miss."

"Shush, it." I huffed. "When I remembered, I guess my system was as out of whack as the Reef is now. I was confused and pained. But that's all." My tongue felt like sandpaper, lying like this. I didn't know why I was.

"And the vision," Zavala added in.

I shifted my weight onto my other foot. "Yes." I looked out the window, seeing the mountains dusted with snow. The trees, the unknown, by me. What I didn't know was out there. On Earth. Birds flew past the window.

I wanted to get out, to explore what was left of the collapse suddenly.

I looked around to my friends, who were silent and absorbing. My Ghost hovered beside me, silent.

Sighing, I looked to Eris who had been watching me.

"You are all dismissed. We will call you when it is time to take action." Ikora stated, bowing her head towards me. Taken aback, I nodded to her too.

Nate walked in front of me, not acknowledging me. The others I could feel, felt numb and shocked. I had almost up the stairs when I felt a hand pull me back. I turned, and saw that Eris no longer had her headdress on, and her long raven black hair fell to her chest. Her three eyes gave her ethereal beauty. Eris, in my eyes, was darkly beautiful. Her full pale lips were, as always, down. My Ghost still hovered near me.

"Guardian." She spoke. It wasn't like any other times she had spoken. It was soft. Understanding.

"Eris..." I trailed, then I stopped. The voices. They're back. And once again, a headache spread as I heard Oryx chanting.

"Would you speak with me?" She asked, unaware of the inner struggles.

I then smiled, my eyes filling with tears when the pain grew. "Of course." I heard the door behind us slide shut. And it was only us. I dismissed my Ghost, and HE, disappeared.

She turned, and I followed her as she lead my to the table near the window I was looking out of earlier. She sat, the eerie green ball absent from her hold.

She reached into the pocket of her outfit, and pulled out a piece of black rock, sliding it towards me.

I picked it up. It was smooth, with craters. When I touched it, the whispers and calling stopped..and I felt like I was on Earth again.

"What..what is this?" I mumbled, closing my palm and squeezing.

"Do not ask, Hunter. Just know, that you have been touched, caressed by Oryx." She leaned across the table, and I forced my body not to recoil from physical touch when her slender finger traced my lips, I looked into her eyes.

"And this," She closed her hand over my curled on, the rock inside. "helps."

"Yo-you know?" I stumbled over words. I was a loner, I kept to myself, usually. All of the hug that I gave Nate were out of character for me. My friends, I liked them. But while they did things as a group, I liked to wander off to the placed on Earth, exploring by myself. Eris and I had a connection, wether I knew I wanted it or not.

We're linked.

"Yes. I do." She leaned back, turning to look out at the trees. "I felt, heard what you are. I lived it, for all those years on the Moon. And this," She looked down at her hand, watching as a green ball flamed, a rock much like the one she gave my in the middle. "helped me. It stopped the voices, and whispers. Guardian. You have people who care for you, use them. Let them in."

"I am not usually one for sympathy. But as your friends do not understand what we do," Her voice continued. "we need each other."

I still have not comprehended what exactly has happened to me. As with many other things, I don't want to either. If I know, I will become like Eris. More closed off then I already am. But..she's opening up. We share a common link, Oryx. Whatever has touched me, happened to me, she can help. She survived the Dark.

This time, I smiled among the dark thoughts. "Thank you. I do not know what exactly has happened..my mind I think is in the stage of denial."

For a good two minutes, she sat there, deep in thought. I had always admired her, her bravery. How fear hardened her, and how she was only herself. I remember when I had finished speaking to the Speaker one day, and as I was walking to the Cryptarch, I saw her ship and the people around her.  
The day she got back. Her figure in front of her ship.

I looked at her. Her lips were lifted in the slightest smile.

"No, Guardian. Thank _you_." She said, and as her hand gripped mine, she materialized out of the room.

I leaned back, tilting my head up to the ceiling. On her side of the table simple black thread laid there as if left for me. I grabbed it, unfolding my hand and threading it through on of the craters, then tying it around my neck, I put it underneath my shirt. It was cold even though it had been in my palm.

I smiled. She's just misunderstood. No one really knows her, and in that way I think I made a new friend. I opened my eyes.

Does she even _do_ friends, I wonder?

Well. Let me be the first, then. I stood, pushing my chair in, walking down the steps, passing the table. My hand slid along it as I passed it. I remembered laying there, wailing Oryx's words. I sucked in a deep breath and walked up the steps and walked out the door that slid open.

Shaxx wasn't in his normal place, neither was the Quartermaster. I jogged up the rest of the stairs to the view of the traveler. My hands clasped the strap of my satchel. I didn't see anyone, I was alone. No Nate, no Erin. They left me?

I held out my hand, and my Ghost appeared. I took one last look around. I felt as if people were hiding from me, I felt morbid.

I looked back at my Ghost. "Home, please."

"Yes, Miss."

I felt detachment as I left the Tower and materialized in my own home. The stone was still cold, like eternal ice. I passed the wall of windows, and the City seemed quiet. No one knew yet about Oryx's uprising. Blissful ignorance.

As I walked to the bathroom, I took off my shirt, dropping it somewhere in the floor. The bra that the infirmary supplied me with was a black bandeau, and I picked at the seam as I continued walking. I stopped and kicked off the pants, throwing them in the basket beside my bed. I looked at the lime colored boy shorts, and snapped the elastic on them, and ran my finger through my hair.

I shut the bathroom door behind me and rubbed the wound on my stomach. Then, I looked up.

And I felt sickened at what I saw.

My lips, usually pink, had been pigmented black. I felt Eris' finger there again. It's as if the words Oryx had spoken stained me and changed me. His poison seeped through my mouth into the ears of everyone that had been in that room. And I was the one punished for it. He had left his mark. He had left it well. I tear escaped as I looked at my eyes. They were no longer blue. They were white, glowing white.

But my skin was still blue, and my hair a dark blue. My stomach twisted.

I dragged a brush through my hair, and I twisted it in an updo. My bangs fell across my forehead, and the tears still ran. I turned, to walk out, when I noticed something on the back of my neck. I started to frantically claw at it, but nothing was there.

I opened the drawer fast, pulling out a pocket mirror. I focused it on my neck and choked back a scream.

There, on the nape of my neck, was the symbol of Oryx. The burgundy symbol stared back at me, and I dropped the mirror. I didn't know if it shattered or not. I didn't care. I had beenn branded. Marked by the Taken King.

I cried harder.

Then I felt arms come around me, hoisting me up. I placed my hands on the flat chest and pushed, not wanting any contact from anyone, but I can feel hands under my legs and supporting my back.

"Stop. Let go," I yelled blindly, my hands trying to hit something, someone. I didn't want sympathy, I didn't want hugs or kisses. I wanted to be alone. I'm a Guardian! Protector of the City! I did not need to be man handled by some person!

"Kyrine, stop." It was Nate, and I sobbed even harder. I told Eris, and myself that I didn't know exactly what happened. But I did. I do. I realize, and its hit me full force.

"Kyrine!"

"Stop!" I kicked, ready to reach for my knife, but realizing that I didn't have it on me.

I was dragged out of the bathroom, and into my bedroom, where the blinds were shut and only the blue lamps illuminated the room. I slackened, my energy running dry. But my tears didn't. And for the longest time, I didn't think they would. I was weak, not the Guardian who I normally was. And I felt ashamed.

So I stopped fighting, I stopped thrashing wildly. I laid there, in his arms, sniffling as the sobs died down.

"Kyrine." I screwed my eyes shut. "Open you eyes."

I shook my head, and lowered it. My updo had came apart as I was moving around, and my hair fell.

"Look at me." He ordered, his strong voice willed me to stare up at him. I didn't see any fear, surprise from him. Only intensiveness.

"I am." I stated, looking into his dark eyes. We were both silent, and I broke his gaze. I had known him for three years, ever since I had became a Guardian. Unlike him, I possessed no memories of my past life. He was declared a Guardian, picked while still living. I had been brought back from the dead. He had family, and I didn't.

We were close, I knew many things about him. And there wasn't much to know about me. I stared at his tanned, muscly arm. He was human, with warmness in his eyes and flowing black hair that reached the bottom of his neck. A strong jaw line and arched eye brows, with a big nose.

"What happened?"

"Oryx has marked me." I mumbled. And now, the concept flew over my head. I didn't want to process it again.

"You can fight against him, Ky. You can't be owned by someone." He mumbled as he held me.

I nodded. I relaxed, realizing I was tense in his hold. I remembered what Eris told me.

 _Let them in._

I leaned into him more, my cheek on his hard chest. This time, he tensed. "What are you doing?" I asked him. I don't get why he tensed. Did I do something wrong?

"Nothing. I've held you before, and you've never really relaxed. I'm pleasantly surprised."

He had held me before, but only once when he fell asleep at my place and I had woken up to being caged in by his arms and I went into panic mode. After that, he never did it. And that was a year ago.

"I just..think that maybe I need to be close to someone."

I felt, rather then heard his smile. "Can I ask you a question?"

Tracing my fingers across his shirt, feeling better, I said, "Of course."

"Why did you hug me?"

I didn't stiffen, but he did. "I'm sorry if I offended you." I murmured.

He chuckled. "You didn't, I just wanted to know."

I opened my mouth. Then closed it. Don't. Lie. Let him in. "This is going to sound odd." I stressed 'odd'. "But when I was in the infirmary, and I remembered, I started hearing voices. Oryx, the Hive. Eris' through all of that, the pain told me to find you. That you would help. And the closer I got to you, the less pain I felt. You made things normal. And when the door was closed and you were on the other side..

I went crazy. I wanted you so bad, to touch you, to be with you. Because in the middle of all the pain, your name was clear. And once the door opened, I went where the pain told me to. And I went to you. As soon as I was with you, it stopped. The tears, the pain. The voices."

I mumbled the last out, and set my mouth in a firm line. I felt embarrassed. I didn't think I was supposed to feel this way when I open up to someone.

He shifted, and we were laying down. I had never laid down with a man before. Or a woman. Aside from when he fell asleep here. It was uncomfortable for me. Somewhat.

"Am I helping you now?" He murmured low in the shell of my ear and I suppressed a shiver. What the hell?

Yes. You _so_ are.

I but my lip. "Eris gave me a necklace, to help combat what has happened. When I take it off, everything comes back. I have it on now, though." I didn't answer his question. Because I didn't want to admit it.

"Take it off, Kyrine." Nate said. I felt his soft hair in my fingers.

My glowing eyes looked up at him, and I turned stony. Why would he want me to do that? So I would be in pain? Is he a _masochist_?

"Why?" I said icily, my mood switching.

"Because, you have me tonight." He said, an unknown emotion was emitted from him that I did not recognize. I could feel his heart beat, hear it clearly, I could see everything. Like back in the Hall. He was sincere. That meant he wasn't going to leave?

He looked down at me, meeting my eyes in the dark. My fingers continued to play with his hair.

"Take it off."

So I did, I tugged it from my neck, placing it on my nightstand. Reaching across from him to do so.

The only thing I felt when I let go of it was a weird shifting, as if I was shifted back into reality. I felt real again. It numbed everything in my brain that I had felt.

I looked into his eyes. "Nate. I don't have clothes on."

"And that is fine." He told me, hugging me to his frame.

I was going to ask how he got in, why he showed up in the first place. And tell him I thought he left me. But I didn't I laid there, letting him surround me with his buff frame. I lived in the moment. He pulled the covers up, covering both of us and I felt warm.

I would deal with Oryx later, as irresponsible as that sounded.

Right now, I opened up.

I didn't sleep for a while, neither of us did. We stayed up, talking about the little things, before we both fell asleep.

 _Chapter 1, Finished Jan - 8 - 15: Not Edited._

 _AN: Long chapter, 5537 words to be exact. With more when I am done with this. The Prologue and this chapter are opening chapters, so there is no real action in these. In the next there may not be a lot, but some will be there. After the second or third chapter, things should start up a bit. I'm trying to capture the feelings and emotions of Kyrine, so I wrote in first person. I don't know if that'll happen again. But if you're reading this, tell me what you think! And no, Nate and Kyrine are not a 'thing'. Or at least, not now._

 _Aside from that. With the part about Eris and her having a one-on-one, I think I captured her personality pretty well, yeah? I tried._

 _Please comment, rate, review, and share!_

_-Bleu_


	3. Two

I slept well. For once..I did. And I think the _only_ reason that happened was because of the man beside me. Nate. I felt weak still. The initial shock had been replaced by numbness and denial over night. And I knew it wasn't healthy. I laid in my friend's arms all night, and slept peacefully. He was warm and big, comforting. And I..liked that. I liked it a lot.

I opened my eyes, remembering how two days ago, I had woken up seeming fine.

But I wasn't. I'm still not.

I leaned up, pain in my abdomen making me collapse back onto the bed.

But it wasn't only that, that made me fall back. I laughed to myself as I looked down at big, tan arms locked around me, Nate's head rested on my chest peacefully. I relaxed, remembering our conversation from last night. And I smiled at him, twisting his dark locks in my fingers, and gliding my fingertips across his face.

I opened up, I'm not a loner anymore.

And I feel _closer_ to him, more then anyone I've ever encountered.

 _I'm scared,_ I realized. _Scared of commitment._

But what was I even committing to? We aren't in an intimate relationship.

 _I'm committing to my feelings. Accepting them._ My fingers stopped as I sucked in a breath.

I tried moving my legs, to get out of bed. But our legs were almost interlaced under the burgundy duvet. My bed was big for me, but for a burly Titan _plus_ me..it was cramped. He made up for it, I realized, by keeping his body molded to mine.

 _I need to get up. I feel trapped._ My mind raced and I felt claustrophobia coming on.

 _Re-fucking-lax!_ I yelled at myself, _It's Nate. Only Nate. I know who this is. This isn't Cabal, or Thrall trying to climb up my body and devour me.._

I closed my eyes as I separated from Nate slowly, voices becoming apparent again. And my head hurt once more.

I turned on my side and scooter closer to him, giving in.

I tucked my head under his chin, pulling the covers over us so I was warm and glued to his being. I feel his hair on my cheek and I breathed in his man-smell.

The voices stopped again. And my head was silent.

I looked up, and shifter closer. Pressing my lower body to his and intertwining our legs. My hand pressed to his cheek.

This was more physical contact then I had ever allowed myself. I was comfortable. But not uncomfortable either. I looked across his face, studying his appearance. The dark circles have faded somewhat now that he's rested.

And not worrying about me...

I felt guilt scratch at my brain, then I pushed it back. I have no reason to feel guilty, what happened to me.. My thoughts paused as Nate shifted, wrapping his arms around me as I tensed.

 _Is he awake?_ I retracted my hand, placing both on his chest as I curled into his heat.

"Morning, Rine." I fisted his shirt into my hands and my eyes flew open, and my heart stuttered.

 _Please. Please, don't let him have been awake the entire time._

I leaned away, looking at him. His brown eyes were tired and smiling.

"Nate." I murmured quietly.

"I like it when you get closer, and I know that you haven't done it before but..I want you to know I understand."

With that, he drew me further in bed and I was surrounded in warmth once again.

"What do you mean, _understand?_ " I asked.

His head was on top of mine. "That you're in a bad place now, and that you've never allowed yourself much physical affection." He was the only reason I wasn't yelling and screaming in pain from Oryx's torment.

I tucked my own head into the crook of his neck. He sucked in a breath, and his emotions, I felt, changed from understanding to something stronger that I couldn't decipher.

"Thank you." I told him, my breath fanned his neck and I felt his heart beat faster.

 _Why's it doing_ that _?_ I wondered, placing my hand on his chest.

"Are you alright?" I mumbled against his neck, feeling his heart stutter again.

"Nate?"

I looked back up to see him looking down at me. _Hellooooo, earth to Nate. Answer!_

"I'm fine, Kyrine." His voice was different. Husky, almost. Filled with an unknown emotion.

I rolled on top him. "No you're not." He looked at me, fully awake now I noticed.

"Get off." He said as I crawled up him, then I placed my chin on his chest.

"Whys your heart beating so fast? And why did you gasp? Do we need to go to the Tower?" My blue hair fell infront of my eyes as I shifted, pulling my legs onto his.

"What," I came closer, feeling his heart. "are you feeling?" I demanded.

"Kyrine. Get off." He said more forcefully.

I braced my hands on his broad shoulders, my hair falling beside me as I looked into his confused eyes.

"What's wrong?"

"You." He said and I stopped, confidence coming to a halt. _Me?_

What?

"What? What do you mean _you_?" I asked calmly.

"You, are what's wrong with me, Kyrine." His dark hair was splayed on the dark pillow and his eyes were hooded. His voice, was calm.

How could affect him that greatly? The only thing special about me now is that fact that Oryx has his eyes set on me. He's had other women in his life, I've seen them come and go. I have watched as he picks them up and then leaves them.

I was quiet, staring at him. Now that the room is quiet and my mind is partially done overthinking, I can hear my own heart thump against my ribs. I'm affected by him. Somehow he's gotten under the thick skin that I have. I feel tingly and paralyzed.

I laid down on top of him. "You're whats wrong with me, too, if that makes you feel any better."

Now I really do feel comfortable.

"What?" He said.

"You're what's wrong with me. You always have been." I mumbled, my ear on his chest. He was, not being close to him was what was wrong with me, I lacked a close friend.

He was silent. Then he put his arms around my thin frame, and hugged me to him.

"Even with the changes, Kyrine, you're still the same person to me." He started. And I listened.

"When Erin told me that you were gone, I knew what I felt. How I felt. And stuff. And then Morn told me that you couldn't be helped, I realized that you were a bigger part of my life then what I thought."

Now _that_ scared me. Because while he knew exactly what he felt, I was still half in the dark about my feelings.

So I got off of him, making sure to grab his hand so I didn't loose contact with him.

"I'm sorry I worried you." I told him.

"I need to worry about you, Kyrine. You're my friend."

I almost flinched. _Friend._ Was I hoping for something more? A relationship? He's never been in a steady one. I'm a fool.

"You're..you're my friend too." I smiled at him.

Something in him spiked, and I didn't know what it was. But he wasn't satisfied with my answer.

 _And they say women are confusing._

I looked down. And my eyes widened when I realized that I had been rolling around on top of him in nothing but my underwear.

I looked over to him, and he was staring at my stomach. My hands immediately went to the ugly wound.

"This is were you got scratched." He said. His warm fingers touched it and I jumped. Skin on skin.

"Y-yeah." I replied as he continued touching me.

"You know it's not awkward for me to see you in your underwear." He said, sincere. "I've seen _plenty_ of women." His tone changed to arrogance.

"You-you _ass_!" I screeched and I reached over the the nightstand, grabbing the necklace when I was pulled back, once again to him.

"You don't need it. And I what I meant to say was that..I _like_ you in your underwear. It uh, came out wrong." He said.

 _MASOCHIST!_ I yelled in my brain.

"I kinda do. I'm going to get up and eat. And that means," I paused for dramatic effect. "no physical contact from you. And plus, it's only normal you'd _LIKE_ me naked. You're a guy."

I grabbed the necklace, when he took my small hand in his.

"Doesn't mean that. I just..I don't want you to feel insecure around me, I'm  
your _friend._ " He mumbled into my ear beside me. His face was on my shoulder and his chest was on my back.

I shuddered.

He brought my hand down to the nightstand, laying it there. And I let go of the necklace.

"Okay." I moved to get out of bed, and he moved with me.

I stood, and looked at my Ghost on the couch across my room. And decided against turning it on. _Excuse me,_ him.

I walked out, and the windows were closed, only a little light filtered into the kitchen.

"Y'know." Nate started, his hand tightening around mine. "You have a nicer place then I do."

"And the only reason that is, is because I prefer windows and you don't like renovating." I said, throwing his own smirk at him.

"Whatever." He muttered.

I pulled the pantry door open and grabbed a granola bar.

"Is that all your gonna eat?" Nate breathed.

"Yes..?" I questioned slightly.

"Kyrine you have to eat more then that, really. Plus. Those nut bars are nasty." He said pulling me back to the bedroom and handing me the black rock necklace.

 _Is he leaving?_ I thought as I put it around my neck.

"Are you leaving?" I voiced as he walked out of the room.

"No."

"Then what are you doing?" I questioned as he opened the cabinets, looking for something.

"I'm making something." Then he growled. "Is all you have here processed food?"

I blinked. It was actually true. I never really _cooked_ because usually just came home, grabbed something to eat, then went bed. The only time I cooked is when I had things to cook.

And I don't have that often.

I winced. "Possibly."

His face came into view and I jumped when he lead me _back_ to the bedroom _again._

"Get dressed." He said, and then pulled the blue curtain that separated my room from the rest of the loft.

"Hey! Asshole! What the hell?!" I yelled after him.

"Get dressed!" He yelled back.

I growled. And I walked into my closet, shooting for leggings and a simple shirt.

I found my black leggings and a old faded purple sweatshirt. I didn't bother with a shirt. Putting on the clothes, I put my head down, and wrapped my hair up in a bun, then grabbed my red glasses.

I pushed the curtain aside, adjusting my sweatshirt.

"Nate?" I called out, looking around the loft for any sign of him.

But he wasn't there.

I tread into the living room. _Not here either._

I grabbed my granola bar and opened it, taking a small bite out of it as I scratched the nape of my neck. The mark from Oryx still present there.

I sat on the leather couch, and picked out the chocolate chips out of the bar. _Yeah. I don't like these fuckers. I mean freakers._

Instead of waiting around picking chocolate out of a chocolate chip bad, shouldn't I be out there doing what Guardians do? Protecting the city, exploring the remains of Earth for trouble?

I shouldn't be sitting in my loft, waiting idly for danger to come.

"Ghost." I yelled, activating him with my voice.

"Yes, Miss?"

"Goodmorning," I smiled. And though he wasn't programmed to smile or didn't have the function of facial expression, I felt him become lighter and happier. Usually, I don't talk extensively with him or use him for much. "Contact Cayde-6 at the Hall of Guardians, please."

He made a nodding motion, before there dots appeared in his optics, signaling him calling.

I looked around, making sure Nate wasn't hanging around before I turned back to my Ghost.

"Guardian!" Cayde's hologram appeared, fuzzy.

"Cayde," I greeted back, not as enthusiastically as him.

"Everything alright?"

"Oh..y-yeah?" I mumbled, looking elsewhere. Then I cleared my throat. "I was wondering if you required me at the Tower today."

"No, no, Guardian. We have matters taken care of here. Rest for a few days. Then, I know for sure we will need you. I'll have your Ghost notify you when we need your presence." He nodded to himself.

I frowned. "What about Oryx?"

"I have put some of my plans for you in motion. When you are requested, everything will be fine. I had Titan are friends with, Nathaniel, stay after for me to talk to him. You will be under his watch for a few days until you are needed."

I was silent. "So the only reason he came last night was at your request?"

 _That would mean he didn't come voluntarily. And that everything he said was just to make me feel better._

That _would mean he could have been lying this morning too._

 ** _Don't think like that. He's loyal. He always has been._**

I jumped. Who's voice was that?

"No Guardian. He asked for permission. As you know, Guardians of the opposite sex are not allowed to be in the same quarters, unless there is verification from a Vanguard. It's almost amusing how he chases you around like dog trying to get his fix."

His voice brought me out of my thoughts. I looked at Cayde, who looked thoughtful himself.

"Come to think of it. He demanded to partner with you on the Phobos mission four days ago.."

He laughed then, and I forced one out. _Demanded? To accompany me?_

 _Odd._

"Really?" I asked, giving a blip of laughter.

"Yeah. The mans whipped I tell you-" I swiped at his hologram, ending the call. Cayde wouldn't get butt hurt over that, right?

"Who were you talking to?"

I squealed and fell off the couch, hitting my head on the wooden coffee table. _What the f-_ My thoughts stopped midway when a shirtless Nate appeared in my line of vision.

"Cayde!" I shouted, louder then I needed to.

He narrowed his eyes. "About what?"

I got up, turned around and spoke. "None of your concern." I felt the pressure of where he stepped, and he was walking around the couch. So I walked around the couch to the kitchen. And I had a motive too. I had to throw my wrapper away.

"Kyrine."

"Nathaniel." I said as I chucked the wrapper in the blue waste bin.

He growled. And I yelped, again, as his body trapped me between the black granite counters and his naked chest.

 _Naked. What-_ My eyes where focused on the piece of dust on the tiles. _Oh. That nakedness._

He leaned forward, and his wet chest made contact with my clothed one _._ I scowled up at him. He towered over me, and I was short for a Hunter. I noticed his hair was wet, so he must've taken a shower. In my bathroom.

With _my_ watermelon scented shampoo. I had to do this. I must. My nose itches to smell. I. Have. To.

I hopped back onto the counter and grabbed his wet hair, pulling his head towards me.

 _Yeah. He totally used it._

"Kyrine what the hell?!" He yelled as I breathed in my watermelon shampoo.

"Knew it." I let go of his hair. Even with me sitting on the counter he was still taller then me.

"Knew _what_?" He seethed.

"You used _my_ shampoo."

"And?"

"You smell fruity." I simply said.

"Shut up," he growled and leaned forward again. "And tell me."

I rolled my eyes at him mentally, but still maintained the glare I was directing at him. "Why?"

"Because you are my responsibility." He said. His hair was longer now that it was damp. It went past his shoulders. And he was still shirtless. And Titans, are buff. And he was broad shouldered, and thick.

I stuck my nose up. "I am my own responsibility." He leaned his head down closer until I could feel his hot minty breath on my lips.

"Tell me."

My head was going in a billion different directions. I am his friend. Friend. _Friiiiiend. Friend._ ** _Friend._**

"No." I smiled and hopped off the counter onto the floor again in front of his person. Now that I thought about it, I'm not sure as to why I'm denying him. It's not like me and Cayde were planning to drop him off on the moon. Maybe its because I don't enjoy being bossed around.

What alarmed was not his eyes narrowing, or the water from his hair and chest dampening my sweatshirt. What alarmed me was the fact that he was bold enough to push his lower half into me, pinning me against my counter. He smirked darkly. I ducked and went between his legs, skidding onto the tile like the soccer players I've seen from old movies.

I was about to start army crawling to my bedroom when I felt myself being lifted up into the air like a doll.

"No! Put me down you _masochist!_ " I screamed as I was held against my will to his chest.

"Masochist?!" He yelled.

" _Masochissssssst."_ I hissed.

With both of his arms wrapped around my mid section, and my feet not touching the ground. I was immobilized, I couldn't lift my foot or knees to deliver a swift kick to the testicles or anything.

 _Is he_ not _a masochist?_

"I'm not a masochist, Ky. I swear to the devil." _That's not very reassuring._

I wriggled in his grip, and I swallowed when my sweatshirt rode up and I realized I had been almost _grinding_ on my friend. And that my rump and back were skin to skin with his abs. I writhed some more. _Down down down._

He put me down. "I just want to be near you. Not that necklace thing." _Oh. So_ he _wants to be the one to help me. Not some magic necklace Eris gave me._

"Oh." I turned to look at him but he stopped me by placing a hand on my shoulder.

"What's on your neck?" He whispered. More to himself then to me.

My hand flew to cover it, but he caught it. Then I felt his finger tracing it. I suppressed a growl.

"What is it?" He demanded.

"The Mark." I snapped, suddenly moody. "I told you. That I was marked. And I meant that."

"Literally." I finished. Before turning around. "And permanently by the looks of it."

"You're still my friend. A mark from Oryx won't change that." He looked at me. "Let me grab a shirt and we can go out." He said passing me, patting my head. He disappeared into the bathroom.

I took my hair out of my bun, and the curls bunched up below my collarbone to hide my Mark.

I sighed when the door shut. At least I didn't have to tell him what-

"And while we're out you're telling me about Cayde!"

A small 'ugh' slipped from underneath my breath and I got my white combat boots from the shoe rack. I laced them up to my knees and zipped them up. Then I clamped on a holographic bracelet. It was white, and had the red Hunter insignia on it as it oversee above my skin.

A few decades ago, there was an incident over Guardians being allowed to venture out into the City. Many viewed us as a danger to the populous, despite our job being to protect the City from Darkness. And sometimes the rouge Guardian went into the city. Then the Vanguard and City Senate told us that we had to have Guardian identification on us. Hence the band I'm wearing. Usually I wore it on my thigh, so everyone would know. But as I tugged my sleeve over it I realized that I didn't want to be associated with the Tower today. I didn't want to be a Guardian today. I pushed my glasses up my nose for a snake of normalcy.

Ever since my first incident with the Thrall on the Cosmodrome, one had weakened my vision. So unlike more Guardians, my vision was damaged slightly. My helmet fixed that when I had it on, but I didn't want to walk around with my helmet on today.

I sat back on the couch. "Ghost, stick with my today. But not in sight." I told him as I bounced my foot.

"Yes ma'am." He said and disappeared. I rubbed the back of my neck, and pulled out my phone. Or the sleek metal surface with a button on it. The Button Device.

I pressed the button and watched as it suspended in air and my homescreen projected. I forget the exact science of it, but the electrons are projected through the atoms until they built up and thus creating a hologram. Sounds about right.

I scrolled through my applications, Guardians aren't permitted to engage in social media. I go against that, having a few apps in which I go under an alias by. Only because they provide me with entertainment, and news of the ongoing things in The Last City. I was about to press the call button under Erin's contact when Nate walked out of the bathroom in a white shirt and the Titan band hovering around his bulging bicep.

"Ready to go?" He asked. My finger hovered above the call button.

"Yes." I swiped right and the hologram dispersed and I slipped it into my pocket.

I got up, following him to the door. He held out his hand, and his Ghost appeared.

"Min, central City."

"Yes, Master."

I closed my eyes as we were transported.

 _Central City, 10:23 a.m._

I opened my eyes and looked around the building we were in. It was empty aside from a few people lingering.

This was where the Guardians are entered into the City.

The building had a glass ceiling and I could see the Traveler above.

I felt Nate's hand on my shoulder, guiding me into the quiet streets. Central City was shadowed by the Traveler, and it was also where most of the Last City population resided. Towering skyscrapers and flashing light, this was the center of the City.

I didn't _like_ to go to Central. Because I usually liked to explore the empty expanse of what remained of Earth. That _didn't_ thrive with people. I didn't like humans or human _oids._ Being alone was much simpler.

We walked in silence. He always was in contact with my person, not letting me go.

I didn't know where we were going, I didn't even know where we were in Central. I saw some hoverbikes and cars, but not many. It was the ending the week, not working hours. Or at least not for the people down here. By 'down here' I meant those that don't reside in the Tower. Or close to it.

"Inside." He leaned to mumble in my ear. I turned to the left and stepped inside a small café. Turning, I rose an eyebrow to him. I located the absolute farthest seating from the entrance and I sat down in the back.

"You sure are reclusive, Ky." There isn't anyone here. I nodded and looked at my lap.

"I took you here to eat properly. Smile, please. For me." He said and took my hand.

My hand felt tingly. I smiled at him, genuinely. I leaned forward to trace the tattoos trailing from his hand up his bicep. "Thank you, and I contacted my mentor this morning to offer my assistance. " I said, and looked up at him. I took my back hand.

"Why?"

"Because. I don't feel strong enough to be a Guardian. I feel like a child I you're watching over."

"I'm not watching over you forcefully. I volunteered -"

"I know."

He nodded. "Thank you for telling me, and letting me stay with you."

"Thank _you_ for sticking with me."

He ruffles my hair and leans back as a bot wheels up to our table.

"Hel-lo." It croaked out. "H-ow may I b-e of service of y-ou?"

"Four scones with cream, please. Two  
milks." Nate said. He passed glimmer to the robot, who reached out a metal hand and took it.

"No-Ted." It wheeled off.

He looked at me. "EXO owned. The owner engineered his own bots to run it."

I nodded. I was begets feel out of place again.

"Kyrine."

I smiled up at my handsome friend. "Yes?"

"I will be staying with you for a while. I just wanted you to know."

"I don't have a spare room. You'd have to sleep on the couch." I said.

His heart faltered. He didn't want to sleep on the couch, I guess. But he nodded the bot came back with our tray of food and drink, and I stuffed my face with sugary scones, downing it with milk. Ever since I woke up, my senses have been in over drive. I'd have to talk to Eris about it.

"So, I was thinking." I paused. I didn't know what I was thinking. "That when my presence is needed back at the Tower I want you to be by my side."

His eyebrow shot up.

"Missions and stuff." I finished, swallowing the rest of the scone. "And Oryx." I didn't see his reaction as I took a gulp of milk. _Way better then the crap I ate at the infirmary._

"Of course."

I looked up at him. "Nate..do you think I'll survive?" I asked him. A question that had been rolling around in my subconscious ever since I woke up.

He coughed. "K-Ky what are you saying?"

I looked at him in the eye. "I've been thinking..I don't think I'll live through this Oryx ordeal. The Taken..the Taken are formidable as we've seen. And.." I pressed a hand to my stomach. "felt."

"You will live." He got up, walking over to my side of the metal table and sitting. "Don't you ever doubt yourself."

"Nate, two fireteams barely took down Crota, four not making it out alive. This is his Father. Who wiped out a whole army of Awoken warriors." I mumbled, my gut sinking as I realized the Queen's status was unknown. And Uldren was most likely dead.

He tapped on my plate to get my attention. "And since then. We have only become stronger. You have as well. Your appearance may have altered. But your bravery is untouched." Leaning back in his booth, he crossed his arms. "And I know that." He finalized. "Watch them burn with Light. Don't let yourself fade to Darkness."

 _Completed; 1/13/15 - 9:48 p.m_

 **EDITED.**


	4. Three - Part I

"Do you think it would be okay if we went out of the City?" I questioned as Nate passed Glimmer, City currency, over to the bot. He was quiet, but I watched how his jaw tightened and his eyes narrowed.

"Kyrine, I'm risking even taking you into the City. The Wilds are overrun with Fallen and possibly Hive." He turned to me. "I don't want to risk it. And we need to get you groceries. Your cabinets are like a ghost town."

I narrowed my eyes at him, and watched through his eyes as my own sparked with arc energy. I'm not a "I want to go to the Wilds." I growled.

Then, I stopped myself. I growled at Nate, and I haven't turned hostile on humans in years. I growled. At Nate. I coughed, wishing I had more scones. His eyes spiked. Towards me. I really, really wish I had more food to stuff my face with.

"Don't use that tone with me." He growled back. With that he got up and grabbed my wrist, pulling me out of the cafe behind him. I yelpled when he tugged me harder to him.

My vision blurred, we were going too fast. I vaguely heard Min talking and then the roar of a Sparrow filled my ears. I was yanked on and a helmet was placed on my head. Then he wrapped my arms around his waist.

I screwed my eyes shut.

Sparrows don't run on gas. Nothing really runs on gas anymore. The Traveler, once it came to us, to Earth, cleared up the atmosphere. And in exchange, we powered vehicles with raw energy. It smelled similar to when you light a match. But fire and gas didn't have anything to do with it.

We lurched forward and I scrambled to get a grip on him.

"Nate!" I yelled over the wind rushing past us.

He either ignored me or didn't hear me, but he sped up. I didn't know where we were going, and I still didn't open my eyes to see. He wasn't wearing a helmet though, because the helmet didn't cover my cheeks and I felt his hair on my face. We did a turn and I grunted when he accelerated even more.

"Nathaniel!" I growled into his ear.

When he didn't reply I sighed and gave up. His body was still tense and anger was still writhed in him. I took a deep breath, and I smelled the forest, the dampness from the rain, and the woods were quiet save for the Sparrow weaving in and out of the trees. We weren't in the City any longer.

The Wilds.

The last time I was here, was around two months ago. Only because I wanted to get away from the Wolves ordeal. I had been around to many people, to many rules for so long. And I hated it, I don't hate many things.

Whenever I left the Tower I flew to the Asia quadrant. Or at least that's what it was named before the Collapse. Before..everything. I stayed off the grid for a few days, didn't go back to the Tower or to my friends. I didn't want to.

I lived off that purple mineral food and the water around the place. It was also one of the places that the Fallen hadn't corrupted.

When I took off, I didn't tell anyone where I was going. I didn't think of it either. Because I'm used to being alone, I liked being alone.

The last time I had done something with my group of friends Jo, Sarah, Sean, and Nate, had been the drunken crucible thing that Nate and Sean thought would be amazing.

Sarah ended up getting drunk, for one of the first times.

Jo had to leave because of something. And Nate and Sean were acting like gay lovers.

They all had lives outside of being a Guardian. Families. People they love. I drowned myself in protecting the City, because I didn't have what they did.

Sarah was a bookworm, Jo was wild and crazy..who had a crazy family.

Sean had his girlfriend and his other non-Guardian friends.

Nate had his hustle and bustle life style full of women and sex.

I..had myself. And Erin. She had always been there. Ever since I woke up.

And now, I had Nate. Now more then ever. Though at the moment I didn't think I did.

Cracking my eyes open, I reach up and grabbed the helmet that was on my head, and threw it off. My wild hair whipped around. And my eyes tried to look at our surroundings, but they came together as we went faster.

I looked up, and through the tall trees I could see the sun. This had been another place where Fallen caches hadn't been placed.

Putting my face into the crook of his neck, I tightened my hold on him when he sped up. Testing my grip. His dark hair and my blue hair whipped around each other. He was warm. I felt the sun on my back.

His anger had cooled and was replaced with something else. Contentment.

We started slowing down, and his black Sparrow came to a stop. He grabbed my hand, yanking me off.

"We're here. What you wanted."

I ignored his words. The urge to explore and get out deeper into the Wilds was overwhelming. The trees stretched high above us and the grass and earth felt soft.

Out here is where I felt most welcome.

No humans, humanoids to bother me.

"Kyrine."

I looked up at him then and pulled at my sweatshirt.

"I shouldn't have said that," I started. "I'm sorry, Nate. I don't know what came over me."

I heard him shift. "Just don't let it happen again. You're my responsibility. Don't make me regret volunteering to watch you." He passed me now. I looked at the ground. "You got what you wanted. We're in the Wilds."

I turned toward him. "Don't be a dick about it."

When he stopped with his back to me. I wanted to take my words back to bad.

"I am watching after you. The least you could do is say thank you!" He shouted. My eyes narrowed, anger sparking again.

"I'm a grown woman! Not a child! I don't need some man watching me like I'm an infant!" I shouted back at him angrily.

He turned fast, stalking up to me. "You are my responsibility. Mine."

"I'm a person, you seem to forget." I softened my tone.

Sighing, he dragged his hand across his face. I still remained vigilant, staring him down. "I know," He paused and looked at me through his fingers. "I'm sorry."

I took his hand in mine, the anger flushed out. "I'm just stressed. And being out here, I don't know, I just feel..closer to myself."

I looked around, then back up at him. My lips turned up in a half smile. "So I'm sorry." I told him. His dark eyes looked to our hands when I tightened my hold.

He let go of my hands. "I understand to a point you know. To feel misplaced among people. I just want you to know you can be you around me. Wether that's depressed or happy. Or angry." He chuckled.

I picked at a loose seam on my sweatshirt and looked at the ground.

"I feel myself when I'm with you." I mumbled under my breath. He is the only one to make the whispers go away.

I heard him take a breath. "I'm glad."

Looking up at him I felt that he was indecisive. About what, I didn't know.  
His lips were turned up in a smile, but his eyes showed inner struggle.

"Can we go explore now?" I asked.

"Yes. I'll have Min bring my ship and our supplies."

"Ship?" I questioned.

"We won't be exploring Russia."

I felt uncontrolled excitement bubble up in me. "Where will we be going?" He looked down at me as I closed my eyes against his chest.

"Asia."


	5. Three - Part II

"Cayde."

The EXO sighed and turned around, abandoning the map on the table.

"Yes, Eris? What can I do for your beautiful face today?" He said, crossing his arms and leaning back on the Hall had been emptied, Zavala having a meeting with Lord Shaxx over plans on the Dreadnaught, and trying to contact the Awoken in the Reef.

Ikora was conversing with her little _info spies_ as Cayde himself liked to word it.

There was no smile on her lips. Only a grim line.

"The Marked Guardian," She started, looking out into the mountains behind the tower. "what do you and the Vanguards plan on doing with her?"

Cayde's optics blinked. "What do you mean?"

Eris growled at him, and turned to him, vengeful.

"You know of what I speak, you did the same to me when I arrived from the Moon." He lips barely moved as they remembered.

A ghost of a whisper filtered through the room.

 _Imprisonment._

"Imprison a Guardian?-" He started incredulously, but Eris interrupted.

"I was a Guardian. A Hunter, like her. You cannot say that I was not. You cannot say loosely that you did not condone what you did."

He sighed, remembering the day she came back from the Moon. Kyrine was there to see it as well. People crowded around, Zavala disappearing to the lower levels with Eris. The Monstrous Guardian. He knew what she was referring too. She was kept imprisoned in the Lower levels underneath to Tower. Below the surface of the City. Way, way down below.

He could still hear her pained screams as Zavala interrogated her. Something he would never forgive himself for.

"She won't be taken and imprisoned. She is a pupil of mine, and as long as that stands then she will be safe from Zavala and Ikora's experiments." He walked with her.

There was tense silence and Eris's aura turned more icy.

She stopped. Her shoulders rose. "Was I not your pupil as well, Cayde-6?" She said snarling at him.

He took a step forward, putting his gloved hand on her shoulder. "You will always be my pupil, Eris."

She shuddered. No one touches her. No one has, since before the incident. Never intimately, not since. Not since..not since she allowed it. She took his hand in her own, and through her ranged powers she could sense the nerves under the clothes, and the plates of his design.

"I know." She spoke softly, her voice still grim. Could he feel lust, she wondered. What lies beneath his armor and the plates of design.

What undiscovered emotions did he have?

Eris looked at him. Closely, his blue plates and his glowing pale blue optics.

What does he feel for?

"Promise me, Cayde, that you will not let her be taken away for experiments." He was still looking at they're touching hands. Why did she have to touch him?

Darkness touched him. He yelled internally at himself, _she is Light!_

 _This is Eris. Eris, Eris, Eris._

He remembered her before Crota. Her short, soft black hair and her soft green eyes. When she wasn't so grim about everything. Or at least. Not grim about that much.

She was just affected by Darkness. As was Kyrine. They both were.

They may be husks of Crota and Oryx's punishments. But that didn't make them any less of a person.

He covered her hand with his own, and watched as the permanent black tears cascaded down her face, her neck, and further till it could be seen no longer. Permanent tears of hatred and anger. Sadness.

"I give you my word, Eris."

"Come on, Kyrine. We're here," He told me, as I finished cleaning my legs were crossed and I was in the back of the ship where the power generators were. The hum of the generators were cut off, and the blue safety light lit up the back.

"Okay!" I yelled to the front of the ship where I heard him clicking off switches. I dipped the rag in cleaning fluid and did one last swipe at my old helmet. Cayde had repaired the cracks from it, that I got from the last fight I was in.

I ringed the rag over the shallow bowl of cleaner and rested it on the cardboard box filled with excess parts.

I looked at my reflection in my helmet. My eyes were still odd. My lips still forever stained with the poison words. What I have become?

"Miss, I've retrieved the rest of your armor." My Ghost said, interrupting my thoughts.

Looking up, I smiled at him. "Thank you."

He made a nodding motion, and I stood to took my sweatshirt off. I pulled it over my head, putting it on top of the rag. Then Nate walked in, "I see you're not ready."

"Give me a minute," I said and watched him look me up and down. I coughed to cover up the shudder. "Ghost, suit me up."

I watched as he projected my armor over my bandeau and leggings.

I felt slightly heavier, and I stretched out, raising my arm in the air. My armor felt tighter, not yet adjusted to my form. _Wait a minute._ I looked at Ghost.

"This isn't my armor, Ghost." I mumbled. And he nodded again. I stretched my leg out.

"Your other suit was too damaged, Ikora took it in to inspect it and Cayde equipped you with new chest and leg armor. They send their apologies to the tight fit."

It fit like a latex glove that was for sure. Tight, tight, tight. It was black and a neon green. Nate walked up to me with white cloth in his hands.

"This just came in from Eris." He told me, and took my helmet and placed it on my head gently, still looking through my helmet know I could see him. He wrapped the white cloth around me, securing it to my helmet.

"It has Crota's Bane's insignia is imprinted on it. Specially for you." He said softly, the blue safety light highlighted his dark hair in hues. The cape went to the back of my calves, and he put the hood up. "We're ready to go," He said, and Min appeared and put his helmet on him.

We looked at each other for a second before he turned around abruptly, walking out of the back room. I looked to Ghost and I shrugged my shoulders at his narrowed optics.

Asia was eerily beautiful, even after the Collapse. It still held it's shell of former glory.

Temples had been brought down, in their place Fallen ketches, and hideouts. Century old shops knocked down, and packaged food littered the streets. Lanterns were still spread here and there, flickering from the long-lasting oil that scientists had programmed so long ago.

It was still green, green vines, green grass, green. The occasional sign of Fallen was scattered about, barrels and caches littered the inside of deserted shops and malls.

Dried blood,Fallen was still in the concrete. Fallen blood could not be removed by rain, or acidic rain. It was a dark blood.

Dark blood? Fallen blood was lighter then this.

My boots stepped on it, and I crushed a box of brittle pocky that was on the streets. From what Nate's navigation on the ship said, we were in Japan. Kyoto district.

When I lifted my leg to continue following after Nate, I couldn't move. My boot was rooted to the spot where Fallen blood was.

 _Fresh, Fallen blood,_ I realized. _This is recent._

I raised my heel, taking my pocket knife and slicing the thick blood from from my boot.

"Nate!" I turned and called out it him. He was still reloading his shotgun from the last time he had used it. He stopped and turned back to me, and jogged to me.

I took off my helmet, the stale Kyoto air flared in my nostrils. I hunched down next to the pool of darkness. I looked at my knife, and some of the black blood had stained it, turning it an ugly matte red. I dragged it on the pavement, trying to stop it from eating at the metal.

I flipped open a small pocket knife, made of Thrall hide and plates, and started scraping off the goo from the other knife. I slipped it into the wedge and picked out the remaining chunk of blood.

The matte red glared at me, and I held it up in front of my eyes, the cloudy day made it hard to see, but there were holes, tiny, but noticeable that had worn away.

What _is_ this stuff?

One of this knees touched the ground, and he rested his elbow on it. "What?"

"Look at this..." I trailed off. I yanked my boot off, and sat on a Fallen signified barrel. I used the pocket knife to scrape the remaining thick liquid.

It hadn't chewed through my boot as I though it would, like the metal. The boots were made with bone, and reinforced with Thrall coverings. Like the pocket knife.

He was still examining the blood on the ground when I was finished.

"Is this what I think it is?" He looked at me. I couldn't see his face from his helmet, but I knew he had the feeling of recognition.

"I don't know," I said, and my head turned when I head a crash from an alley. "But if it is, The City must know."

I watched as he got up, and rummaged through his small pack and fished out a clear bottle, and threw it to me. "Get some of this blood in there. This isn't Fallen blood, that's for sure."

He removed his glove from one hand and I sheathed my throwing knife, walking over to him and I got on one knee, using the pocket knife I scraped some into the bottle. Hopefully, it wouldn't eat through the thick glass.

Hopefully.

I shook it around, and nothing ate away. I finished getting all I could, and then I put it in a small plastic bag I found and tied the ends tight.

"Ghost," I told him, and he appeared in front of me. "Take this to the ship, keep it under strict lock down." I didn't want it getting out into the ship, leaving us with no transport off Asia.

"Yes, Miss." He said, and disappeared with the plastic bag. I turned back to Nate, who was reaching for the blood with bare hands.

"Kyrine. Who's blood do you think this is? Obviously not Fallen or Hive. Vex only spit out mechanical parts..." His voice lowered and I turned back quickly to him. His finger was just about to touch the dark substance.

I snatched his hand back, and subconsciously I tightened my hold on his had because he yanked his hand back with a grunt. "What the hell, Kyrine?" He snapped at me. I ignored his harshness, studying the black mess at our feet.

I stared at the blood, then stood up, pulling him up with me. "Don't touch it."

"You know what it is, Kyrine. We both do," His voice was hard and gruff.

I looked to him, and took a deep breath as the wind swept past us, and the whisps of hair that escaped my tight bun brushed my face.

"I know."

I heard the whispers first, sweep through the empty street, and felt the necklace weigh on my chest underneath all my armor. There was no pain, only sound. Nail scraping, hoarse whispers. Papers flew across the street from shops when the wind suddenly picked up.

They are here.

The Taken.

Taken _blood_.

"Put on your helmet. My radar is picking up multiple warp tears in the area around us." He says, slipping his glove back on and readying his bulky shotgun.

I looked to him as I snapped my helmet on my head. "I suggest using a scout rifle." I told him, taking out my own hand cannon.

Sluggish bodies stepped from around the corners of allies and warps unleashed acolytes, but these. These were taken Fallen, and Hive alike.

Anxiety pulsed through me, and my stomach twisted in unsolvable knots. I felt sick. I _feel_ sick.

They slowly surrounded us, the lanterns were now crunching from the force of the wind, and detaching from the wire that strung them from street to street. The strangled shrieks of Thrall, and Dreg echoed at us from all angles.

Their skin...I won't forget it. Dark matter, splayed from head to toe, varying shades that chilled me. Some oozed with the Black blood, a sign of previous fighting, won fighting between them and their opponent.

I clicked the safety off of the gun, and I looked to Nate, seeing his scout rifle already aimed.

"There's Taken in Asia?!" He yelled over the loud screeched and scuffing feet.

"Yes." I said grimly. "We must act quickly. Kill from distance, do not let their life blood touch your armor. No matter what the cost." I yelled this to him.

"Alright. Let's get this done with." He said, and blasted the head off a slow-moving Thrall.

That's when the chaos began. Thrall broke out of the lull of slowness, and started sprinting and now instead of anxiousness in me, adrenaline spread more fierce.

I braced my left arm over my elbow joint to steady my aim, and I fired, running at the Thrall head on. My cape behind me, trailing where I went. I took out three with headshots and minimal blood. I didn't have a second to check where Nate stood among the screeches of Taken.

Blood still spurted on the ground, I dodged it and readied my small pocket knife.

I was running towards a hoard of Thrall, maybe fifteen or twenty when I was tackled to the ground. I thrashed and thrashed, and looking up I saw that it _was_ indeed what I thought it was.

It was Cabal. Like back on Phobos. Only, the Darkness of Oryx much worse.

The Taken Lieutenant war machine was heavy, and I sucked in a breath before I stuck my handcannon to its small head, and a shot thundered through his skull.

The blood, or oil, since the Cabal were heavy machinery, spurted through the back of his head, and it rolled off me.

I turned on my stomach and I heard the whispers grow louder, I looked up to see the Thrall surrounding me, with Cabal and Fallen littered in the mix.

 _Shit._

Feat, now, battered through me and my muscles tightened and my joints froze.

Oryx was here. I felt it, because I felt the mark on the back of my neck became smoldering on my skin. And somehow...I knew it was him.

I breathed heavily, then kicked the rest of the fallen Cabal Lieutenant off my feet, and stood up. They were still running towards me, Thrall screeched and expanded and divided into more horrible monstrosities. Panic ebbed at my stomach.

I closed my eyes. I focused on my energy, and I felt Arc energy slam into my veins, and my Void bow was in hand, electric zaps of blue glowing light surrounded me and I felt empowered. I ran towards them head on, my legs running faster then my growing panic of defeat. I was a few yards from them now, their damaged eerie bodies still coming at me. I bent my knees, launching myself up tens of feet into the air.

I had my big blade in hand, and I could see myself crawling with electricity.

I descended down upon the horde. More then thirty of the Taken surrounded me. And for a moment, all was silent. Asia was quite.

I positioned myself, and lunged for my closest enemy. I sliced through a Acolyte, and the blood from his throat gushed as it fell, and was swallowed into the Dark Void from which it came.

I spun, each of my blades positioned on my side, killing off any Taken that came close to me.

Adrenaline was reinforced when I realized that I had taken off more then half of them. The Thrall remained.

I panted harshly, and narrowed my eyes at them. I remembered what they did to me. What the Taken did to me. What Oryx punished me with. Anger poured over self preservation.

I screamed at them with all my anger, directing them at me again. They turned to me, screeching back. They ran at me, arms flailing and I could see their decaying teeth, that hadn't been swallowed by the Darkness of Oryx. Their black entrails slugged with them.I sprinted at them, screaming in sync with them. I sounded like them, in a way I was them. I let my anger lash out, and I poured fury into my weapon and my will.

I met them in the middle, yelling and screaming and slashing my swords around. I didn't care if the blood from them got on me. It spurted on my helmet, and I could barely see. But I kept going.

I kept slashing. I was about the destroy the last one, when it braced its claws against my blade, it's jaw was detached from the rest of it's head, still dangling loosely. It snapped and growled, blood gurgling from his esophagus and spitting on my helmet. It was eating away at the enforced thick plastic.I growled loudly and shoved the Thrall off, it fell backwards onto his back and I planted my feet on either side of him. He twisted and turned, and raised his consumed body to let out a gnarly shriek as the rest of this bloodied jaw fell.

I took off my helmet and threw it at him. "You! You were responsible for this! You turned my into a monster!" I screamed at it.

It's head was pointed in direction, but it had no eyes. I leaned down, and flailed at my mercy, blood marked my face.

"You. Are. Mine." I said slowly.

I raised my boot, and slammed it onto its head, the crunch of bone was satisfying to my ears and a pool of blood decorated the cement. The other bodies were slowly fading back into the Void. Their souls being sent back to Oryx.

My hair was loose and stuck to the blood on my face. The Black Blood. I took my fingers, swiping at it, and examining my fingers. Gooey and foul. I looked down, and more was splattered onto my boots and upper body and it was eating away at my armor.

I looked back to the dead Thrall. He wasn't going anywhere. "Ghost. Take this Thrall to the Hall. Send him to Ikora Rey. She will appreciate the specimen." I mumbled as I sliced through my armor, and dropped it into barrel.

"Yes, Miss." Him and the body of the Thrall disappeared.

I finished stripping off my leg armor and chest armor, keeping my boots. I lit a match from my pocket, throwing it into the barrel and setting everything in it ablaze.

Underneath all my armor was only a white tank and thick leggings, and Asia was cold. And I was alone. Where is Nate? I looked down the street, which was littered with bodies of the dead.

The stench reached me, then and only then had I realized what I had done. I was one of them.

I was one of the Taken.

I slaughtered these monsters like I was one of them.I felt dirty. I started scratching at my face furiously. Trying to get the blood off. Trying to remove the taint. My nails scraped skin, and tears flowed as I looked into the fire. I scratched harder, it felt like it was seeping into my skin. Panic and desperation overwhelmed me.

"Kyrine?" I head my name. I think it was my name. Oryx? No he was gone. Gone with his minions I was alone by myself.

"Kyrine." I scratched harder. And harder. Until I felt my own blood run down my neck and face. My blood. No one else's.

Hands grabbed my shoulders and then I stared into familiar eyes. My hands stopped, and my nails halted in their assault of my dirty face. Nate. Nate. Nate. Nate...

He was dirty, and his armor had been stripped too. He was shirtless and in training pants with his bulky boots. He looked fine. No blood on his skin.

Nate.

"Nate."

"We have to get out of here, now. More are on the way. We aren't equipped to face another hoard." His hands were on my face. I felt numb. They were stroking, he was thumbing my scratches, and my lips. He pulled me to him. I vaguely felt him stroking my back and speaking to Min. Transporting us.

I was in his ship, and he strapped my into the cockpit. With a blanket around me. I was still bleeding. Still crying.

I looked to him, and he looked at me. "I'm sorry for bringing us here. I'm so sorry."

I smiled. And scarily, it was genuine. "You're fine. We are both fine." He grasped my hand. And I looked at it. Only then I realized the dried black on his hands. The same hands that cradled my face.

We left Asia, but it was a blur. I pressed a hand to my face when he wasn't looking, and held it to my gaze.

It was my blood.

Black Blood.

 _Taken_ blood. 


	6. Four

"We gotta go, quickly." I said to Nate as we jumped off the ship, and it auto piloted itself to the hangar. The bottle was bending to the will of the thick blood, stretching wide.

He took one look at the bottle, and his eyes widened and he grabbed it, sprinting to the Hall. I took a deep breath and ran after him, once again earning weird looks from the other Guardians and vendors. The sun was setting, and shadows were eerily cast on the Tower.

If this escapes, the whole Tower, city will be in jeopardy. Why did we have to bring it back here?We rushed into the main room, and the three Vanguard looked up from a map. I had seen to much of the Hall, recently. It was sickening.

Ikora was the first to speak, eyeing only the rapidly expanding bottle clutched in my hand. "What is that?"

Nate spoke now, looking at all of them. "We have to get it to the Quarantine sector. Immediately, then we promise to explain." Cayde and Ikora nodded while Zavala rolled up the map, and with my enhanced vision, I could clearly see a map of Saturn's rings, hand drawn. The were planning for the infiltration of the Dreadnaught.

Cayde threw my a clear box with a relic iron top, looking to were my eyes were then slightly nodding to me. "Put the bottle in there. It's going to explode any minute."I shoved it in the box and snapped the lid on, the rubbery-glass was starting to exude cracks from the pressure. The box got heavier by the minute because of the increased air pressure.

I looked up to see Zavala narrowing his glowing eyes at me, before transporting us all to the quarantine sector of the tower. Which was a black room with blue lights and different, sharp tools on the walls. And a glass box that encased the back of the room. The floor was white tile.

"Put it in the glass containment." Zavala muttered distastefully to me.

I slid the fiber glass open, and threw the box in there none to gently. I stopping in my tracks, looking in the corner to see the Taken Thrall that I had sent to Ikora in there, laying lifelessly. It's black brain still in the smashed state I had given Taken are now considered a quarantine-able subject. Dread filled my stomach as I looked at the Thrall longer then I should.

I felt like ice as I slid the containment door shut. What if they contain me? Quarantine me and consider me a threat?

Just...just like with Eris.

Cayde watched as Kyrine slid back the fiber glass. He detested this place, detested the look on her face, recognition. Of what, he didn't know.

This was the place Zavala and Ikora had tortured Eris, thinking she had been twisted into Crota's own minion. They tortured her for months, her screams still bounced off the walls and back and forth in his head. She didn't deserve it.

She never had deserved anything that happened to her.

Zavala was ruthless, using shock and pain tactics while Ikora wormed herself into Eris's head. Violating her very thoughts. Cayde had stood and watched as they hurt her. Tortured her for information she didn't hold.

She was only a mutilated survivor of Crota. No matter what she thought, or the others. She was still beautiful, still a piece of art to him.

And she would remain so. Always.

But now, he looked at Kyrine, the newly infected Guardian with Darkness. Watching as she stalked back to her friend, Nathaniel.

At least she had someone to lean on. Cayde had refused to be there for Eris when she needed him most, fearing it would compromise his place as Vanguard. All of her friends had perished before her very eyes by Crota's hand. She had no one and he had refused to be that someone.

Since then, in his position, he has only grown more restless locked up in the Tower, more rebellious is Ikor and Zavala's eyes.

Kyrine looked up at Nathaniel, who didn't look back at her. He was looking at the rattling box in the quarantine glass. His shoulders were tense.

Ikora was watching Kyrine's every move, he knew. Keeping tabs on both Eris and Kyrine. Assessing their every move. Zavala didn't keep the look of utter disgust off his face. He openly hated what she had become. And in his eyes, she was just another subject just as Eris was.

The room was silent now. No one moved or spoke for minutes. Watching the box.

Then Nathaniel spoke to the Vanguard, subtly urging Kyrine behind him.

"What's in that box, is there very thing that flows in the Taken, their blood. We were in Asia, sweeping the streets when Kyrine stepped in it-" He was cut off by the girl who stepped around him.

Her head was raised. "The Taken are here on Earth."

Zavala's eyes widened before he yelled. "What?!" Ikora looked to him, her face screwed in watered down anger.

Kyrine's eyes looked into Zavala's challenging him. "Yes, in Asia. We had a run in with them, a horde. They came by warps. Warps commanded by Oryx. I felt him. We brought the blood and the Thrall back for examination. We need to find a way to combat them."

Ikora looked at Cayde, then to the girl. "What do you mean, you fought them. What's there to combat?"

She looked to the containment wall, seeing the box rattling and expanding. "Their blood at through my armor and my throwing knife. It's toxic, to most. Except for Hive bone and coverings. It ate through the armor Cayde commissioned for me."

Ikora narrowed her eyes, assessing Kyrine who was still looking at the box.

"If it ate though your armor, then how are you still here, Guardian?" She questioned suspiciously. "Unless you were the one that called them to you?"

Kyrine's eyes widened, looking at the Vanguard woman. "How could you be so bold to accuse me of so?!"

Ikora was level headed. "It is a logical presumption, Guardian, Oryx came to prevent us from washing the Darkness from you. If he sensed his guinea pig was in danger, wouldn't he have sent them to you, to aid you. And to kill your friend here." She gestured to Nathaniel.

Nathaniel narrowed his eyes. "That's not true."

Zavala stood by Ikora. "What Ikora Rey says is valid, theoretically. Oryx wants to preserve you, he doesn't want you to perish."

"There was nothing there that could hurt me!" She shouted at them. Cayde was silent.

"That may be, but if you found blood at Asia, that is a sign of battle against the resident Fallen there!" Ikora raised her voice. "You brought a contagion here, the Thrall and the blood! The City is now in danger!"

Kyrine took a step back, her eyes wide. "I transported these here so you could test them! To find a way to _combat_ these monsters!"

"You brought another thing here, _Hunter._ " Zavala sneered.

"Hey, hey, hey! Guys! She meant good. And she's _my_ pupil, Zavala. Ikora. Don't put her in this situation." Cayde interjected, coming to stand beside Kyrine.

"She brought these things here! Who knows if she meant to contaminate the City? She could be one of the _Taken_ for all we know!" He looked from Ikora into Kyrine's appalled eyes. "She needs to be contained."

Ikora looked grim as she looked to Zavala.

"Zavala. Put her in the containment glass." She ordered strongly.

Kyrine's head raced, and she was terrified. For the second time in her career as a Guardian, she was petrified.

They were going to put her behind the glass with the dead Thrall and uncontrollable blood.

Nate put his arm around her to pull him to her. "You can't touch her. She's still a Guardian. You cannot subject her to this! This is _immoral for Vanguard!_ "

He shouted the last part. Zavala narrowed his eyes at his pupil. "Stand down." He ordered.

Nathaniel narrowed his eyes at the man he once admired as a leader. "You are a monster."

"I do what is _needed_ for this City to survive in Darkness. And if that means putting a fellow Guardian in containment, I will do it." He spoke calmly to Nathaniel, his voice bounced off the containment glass. Kyrine shook in fear.

"You will not!" He yelled in Zavala's face. This is when the male Awoken grabbed his pupil by his biceps. The Titan student thrashed and threw punches at his own mentor, worming out of his grasp and landing blows. Zavala charged him, and took him down. Then he picked up his disoritented student, and threw him into the wall, making sure his head hit, knocking him out. Kyrine stared in shock as he slid down the wall.

She turned abruptly, running for the automatic door. Ikora watched, and pointed her own hand cannon at the Hunter woman.

"I suggest staying put, Guardian." She said calmly. Kyrine looked to Cayde, but found he was glaring at Zavala with hate in his optics.

She growled when Zavala wiped blood from his cheek. "Don't do this."

Zavala growled at her. Then there was a click, the safety of a gun being turned off, and Kyrine looked to find Cayde's gun pointed at Ikora's.

"Ikora, take your gun off her." He told the Warlock sternly. Kyrine was frozen to her spot, the door a foot away from her.

The containment room was quiet.

"I can't do that, Cayde. She is a danger to the City! You know this!" She spoke quickly, shoving the gun to the woman's temple. The cool metal made bumps appear or her skin. Cayde re-aimed his gun again, this time, on Ikora's chest.

"Let her go."

"Cayde-6, if you do not lower your weapon, you will be demoted. You will be exiled from the City and never to return. Put the fucking gun down." Zavala growled, Kyrine grunted when Ikora pressed harder.

"Cayde," Kyrine muttered. "don't do this." Her body was tense, rigid. She was petrified.

"No. I won't let what happened to Eris happen to you. Not another one of my students," His eyes leveled with Zavala's. "You won't torture her."

Zavala shoved his shotgun to the EXO's chest. "I will do what I must to protect the City. Step away, and watch. Or be blown to bits." Tension was thick, and Kyrine was shaking with anger, watching her mentor being threatened. She jerked and writhed, but Arc energy from Ikora immobilized her, freezing her nerves and joints.

She still watched. She watched as Zavala delivered a blow to her mentor's optics, shorting him out. He fell to the floor as she screamed, high, and loud.

"Cayde! No!" She screeched. She slugged herself against the zaps of Arc energy, something coming over her. Her nerves slammed against the energy, and Ikora grunted, and the cool metal left Kyrine's temple. She screamed as she strained against the Energy again, her nerves frying. Zavala grabbed her roughly by her arm, and the energy disappeared.

She took a deep breath, her eyes wide, and looked at Zavala, whose eyes were cold. Calculating.

Ikora stepped back, looking at Kyrine. "Lock that thing up! Now, Zavala!" She yelled. Kyrine's eyes were still on Zavala's. And then she looked to Nathaniel, who was stirring from the sleep Zavala put him in.

"Nate! NATE! Wake up!" She screamed. She kicked Zavala, and whipped her head around, screaming loud. The ear piercing sound made Ikora yell something incoherent. His grip loosened slightly. But that was more then enough. She ripped away from him, her scream stopped. Ikora watched as the female hunter's eyes glowed white with anger.

"You BASTARD!" She yelled and punched his head, his head whip lashed to the side. He growled at her now, infuriated. She turned her back on him, intent on reaching her friend. She pivoted, and grabbed Cayde's hand, dragging him with her as she ran to where Nathaniel was.

Adrenaline romped through her nerves as she used all of her strength to drag Cayde's metal body.

She dropped to her knees when she reached him, and Nathaniel looked at her half lidded. He lifted his head tiredly and leaned back against the wall. "Ky..rine..." He muttered.

Tears welled in her glowing eyes. Her hand shakily came up and held his cheek. Cayde was beside them, unconscious. She put her other hand on his cool cheek. He'd be okay.

"Behind you," Nathaniel struggled the words out of his mouth. Tears spilled from her eyes and she looked at him again.

She knew, of course, Zavala was coming to her. Anxiety and dread filled her heart, forcing it to beat. Forcing it to live, and thrive on fear. She reeked with fear.

She was yanked away from Nate, and she let out a shriek as he fell unconscious again. "No! Zavala!" She yelled at him. Fighting against him, defying him she was. Zavala wrapped a beefy, armored arm around her next and she felt the cool armor press against her trachea.

Wheezing, she spat on his spotless armor, kicking all the while. He pressed harder. She coughed violently, he was closing her airway.

She jerked her head back, away from his closing hand and she felt air enter her body and she took a deep breath.

"Ikora! Get her!" He shouted and released me. My body was aching, my nerves felt broken and split. I wanted to die. His choke hold took most of my breath from me. I wheezed as he released me, stumbling in the middle of the room. I couldn't see. My vision was fried.

Dots danced in my vision, and I felt my fingers grasp something cold and metal, and then I fell to the floor. Bringing whatever I had grasped with me. Glass bottles hit my face, and my face was burning. I clawed at my face, trying to get the liquid off of my face. I felt it enter my mouth.

I was on my knees, and I had cleared it from my eyes. The last thing that registered in my eyes was Ikora standing over me. A woman I had once trusted with my life was my enemy.

I opened my mouth to speak to her, but instead of words a screech was torn from my body as she forced bolt of Arc energy into my body. I could see her hands, the electric shocks from her hands, entering my arms. Into my body.

I felt on fire. Out of control. I shook violently, I felt my body giving up, ready to short out.

"That is enough." _Zavala._

Then it stopped, when I was at the brink of peaceful sleep. It stopped. I fell to the cold floor. I didn't want to live. I want do die.

I felt my body being picked up vaguely. Heard the glass slide open, heard the rattling box of blood. I heard it all. The smell of the decaying Thrall, of the sweat on Zavala and Ikora. I felt the weariness of me. They feared me. I know now.

I was in mid air, and then I landed hard on the hard ground. My cheek smacked the hard ground roughly. I groaned, and braced my elbows on the ground, lifting my self up barely. I was in the containment glass. Behind it.

I crawled blindly until I reached the back, I still couldn't see. I put my back to the wall, panting. Everything hurt.

I opened my eyes, fluid in my eyelashes.

It was blurry, but I could see the figures of Zavala and Ikora. Watching me as the slide and locked the containment unit.

I was trapped. By the people I had looked up to and trusted. I laid my head back against the wall, looking up at the ceiling that was covered in shower-like heads.

Containment shower. I was in the shower. I grabbed my hair. My hair, my hair was white.

My hair was white.

"You stay here, okay?" I heard Zavala sneer before he turned his back to me, and picked up Nate and Cayde.

"You put them DOWN!" I shouted, using the last of my energy to throw myself against the fiber glass, banging on it with my fists. "PUT THEM DOWN!" I screeched. "NO!"

He looked at me, I ignored Ikora's scrutinizing look. "I'll leave you this one." He dropped Nate. "He is of no use to us. Ikora. Let's go." Ikora took one last look at me, but my eyes were on my friend. Unconscious in front of me. But unable for me to touch him.

I palmed at the glass, "Make sure he can't open the containment glass for her. We don't want her escaping." Ikora nodded to Zavala, I didn't see what she did to the lock.

Then they both left. Using their Ghosts to transfer away from the quarantine room. Away from me. The monster.

I slid down the glass, my hands squelching and squeaking from the glass. He was on his back. Even if he was unconscious, he was still..handsome. And even if I was trapped, and betrayed. I still took my time to admire him.

I took off my tank top, I felt hot, like I was on fire.

Is this what Oryx did to people?

Change them?

Make their lives a lie?

Make others betray them?

I screwed my eyes shut. He did this. The Dark did this. No one else.

I. Hate. Him.


	7. Five

I stared across the containment room. The box had shattered, along with the bottle, a few minutes ago. The black blood dividing, molecules multiplying as it spread.

It covered the fiber glass as it crawled upward. It wasn't coming towards me, but instead it was slowly making its way to the dead Taken Thrall in the sprinted through my mind, and I stood, shoving myself closer into the untouched corner.

What if it was going to consume the Thrall? Would it come for me next? Or does it only feast upon deceased life forms?

I had been in the glass for a day. No food, no water. Nothing. Nate hadn't woken up yet, which worried me. He was still breathing, chest rising and falling. Zavala must have knocked him hard.

Zavala. That _fucking_ bastard. I hate him. Every time his name came through in my thoughts my anger came back, I wanted to kill him.

 _I need to kill him_. I seethed in my brain. A day in this room, I had sat. The only thing I had to look at was the medical tables, operating tables, and sharp tools on metal tables. I know that this is where Eris suffered for months, where she disappeared to. I had heard stories about what they did to her.

I wasn't about to spend months in some hell house just because those pricks thought I was Oryx's informant. I was still me. I may look different, but I am me.

I'm a Guardian. I'm Kyrine.

I hadn't felt sad since they left me in this room. Only anger.

My stomach was rumbling, which only added onto my anger. I still watched as the black moving blood made its way to the dead Thrall. My body tensed as it crawled up, diving into the cracks and dents of the Thralls decaying body. It almost melted into him.

Now, fear coursed through me. Why would it waste itself on a dead being? My mind already knew the answer. I didn't want to acknowledge it. I only watched as the rest of the blood poured itself into the Thrall. Filling its pores of taint.

When its body twitched, my stomach lurched. It's armed twitched, and I watched as its head that I had smashed with my boot, snap and crack as bones came together, and the blood drenched the brain and restored it. It was reviving it.

It was turning it fully Taken. A full servant for Oryx. My whole body went cold. I didn't have any weapons on me. And the only thing in my hand was my balled up tank top. I wouldn't be able to defend myself.

I would be killed. Ripped open by a minion of Darkness. Fear and anger hammered down my body, and I felt weighted down.

I took a deep breath, trying to calm down. I was spiraling out of control quickly. I pressed my hands to the glass behind me.

I'm afraid of the Taken, afraid of the Dark. My breaths were shaky as I watched the Thrall quiver more. Bones cracked, and black blood seeped from open pores onto the once-pristine floor. I jumped when its leg started banging on the floor, shaking uncontrollably.

I closed my eyes, trying to breathe evenly. I ran my hands through my hair, grabbing it in fistfuls. I heard scratching, and a guttural growl.

My stomach tightened and I felt bile rise when I looked up. The Thrall had become reanimated, staggering upwards, it's hand that had become disconnected form his joint dangled by black bloody tendons.

Bile rose and fell in my throat. _I've seen worse_ , I tell myself. _It has been so much worse._

I screwed my eyes shut again, and clamped my mouth down. I breathed through my nose, and as soon as I did I realized while I had involuntarily breathed through my mouth, the smell of the Thrall was _horrible_.

I heard the steps it took, I smelled its breath it exhaled. I took a deep breath, trying to calm my whirring thoughts. Thoughts like me dying, being ripped apart in this forsaken glass box. And Nate waking up to find me dead and ripped open, a monster of Dark feeding on my insides.

I didn't even know if it would attack me.

My anxiety made my stomach churn, and wetness poured out of my eyes.

I opened my eyes, taking labored breaths, I was looking at the pristine floor. I heard the clicks of the claws on its feet against the floor. It was coming closer. And closer.

And closer.

It probably smelled the saltiness of my tears, heard the thumping of my heart.

It _knew_ the smell fear.

The memory of me smashing its skull in flooded my mind, the malice in my thoughts, voice.

The previous malice was gone. I was fearful as it was less then three feet away from my being.

That's when I hear banging on the glass, frantic and loud. I turned my head to my right to see Nate's horrified face. He's yelling, but no sound reaches my ears. The thick glass makes sure of that. His face contorts painfully, his eyes burning with emotion that I may never understand the meaning of.

He slammed his fists on the glass, making it ripple from impact. His eyes, that were trained on me moments ago, now turned and widened.

And I knew the emotion that flooded them now. I've seen it countless times, but never on his face.

Horror.

I turned away from him. His frantic banging now slowing. The Thrall paid him no attention. It hobbled towards me, and I felt cold and alone despite my friend on the other side of the glass. I was cornered by Darkness. Contained Darkness. I could feel it slithering around me, coiling and tightening. Suffocating me.

There was no pounding, no muffled yells. Only the click of the Thralls feet against the cold floors and its guttural snarling.

It stopped moving. I stopped breathing. It was less then five inches from my face. Its horrid breath covered my pores.

My eyes bored into its head as it snapped its head back, then back down, and I felt the spray of blood from its dangling jaw cover my face. It reared back and tensed its arms, and screamed. I watched its larynx stretch and throb with blood.

I watched as its throat burst, and more blood sprayed. It stood, resolute in front me. Its shoulders heaved, up and down like being pulled up and down by a weight.

I stared at it. My own black blood slamming my arteries. My head pounded. And the presence of the heavy necklace seemed to sink into my chest. Despite the protection of the necklace, the whispers raged loud, the calling to the Dark.

The Thrall inched closer, and closer. The smell of death was still ever evident as blood poured down its chest, and its throat hung from its neck.

I held back a gag and covered my nose. The Thrall wasn't making any advantages.

 _ **Hello, Awoken.**_

I opened my mouth, and air poured into my lungs, I gasped as I felt it taken from me once again. I closed my eyes, and hung my head. I pressed myself closer to the wall the louder whisper pushed through my mind. I felt it in my head, deep inside.

I felt invaded. Who was this? What was this?

I snapped my head up, and my eyes opened. The resurrected Thrall cocked its sunken in head, looking in my direction.

"You." I breathed.

It looked at me, almost in what I would call curiosity. And strode closer to me.

 _ **Yes, me. Guardian**_ _._

Pain came in suddenly. A sharp pain, I gasped and grabbed my head. I sank to the floor and felt the cold wall against my back.

"Wha-what's happening?!" I yelled. The pain made my head roar, it was loud and uncontrolled. Blinking rapidly I looked to the Thrall.

It was on all fours now, circling me. It was the only thing I could see. Everything else was black. Everything else didn't matter.

 _ **The Dark is doubling efforts...for**_ ** _you_** **.**

No..I won't fall into the Dark pit. But I feel myself being sucked in. I feel it in my body, coursing through my tainted blood. My hands roamed my face, smearing Thrall blood. I couldn't feel my face. I closed my eyes. But I still saw it. I still saw it circling me. It's throat dangling and its grotesque head.

I still saw it.

I. Still. Saw. It.

 _ **You, Guardian, you are different. I cannot speak of why. Only how. Your Light, before Oryx tainted it was already...**_

 _ **Tainted. You have been pre-destined to be a Servant of the Dark. Embrace it.**_

I coughed, my throat felt clogged. It felt full. I couldn't think about the words the Thrall said. I heard the banging again. And I could almost heard him yelling. But then the pain overlapped it like the scream of someone who's throat never gave out.

Like someone in pain. My eyes were still shut.

It was me. I grabbed my head, jerking violently. I felt my body convulse as the whisper racked my whole being.

I wailed, I heard myself. I knew it was me. I felt shame that it was me. The pain felt hot and cold, it grew and grew until I felt the whispers uncurl from my body, exiting my pores. And it took a part of me with them.

It took half of my soul, with them.

I clawed at the glass, sobbing. I saw Nate in my burred vision. I laid my head against the glass, and pulled my legs to my chest, crying.

Defeated.

I felt the Darkness fade away, but the Thrall was still there. Still behind me.

I reached out, and felt no malice in it. No vengeful notions. Only pity. Could a servant of the Dark really feel pity for me, the one that crushed it, the one that ended its existence temporarily?

Could it?

 _ **Yes.**_

I sucked in a breath as it came beside me, looming over my hunched form. I looked at the metal wall, my eyes half closed.

"You, were you the voice?" I murmured, and I lowered my eyes.

 _ **Yes.**_

It's voice didn't sound as I thought it would. It wasn't seething with hate, only pity. Emotion. It didn't sound scratchy like its cries and screeches.

It was almost human.

Almost.

"How." I stated.

 _ **There is no how, Guardian. I am the Dark you released the day you decided to become Light. I'm your Thrall. Your servant.**_

"You are a product of Darkness, of Oryx. You are not mine, Thrall." I mumbled against my skin. It wasn't mine. It wasn't my servant. I was servant to the Light, the Traveler. No one was my servant. Could I even trust this...thing?

It's not a thing, its an entity of the Dark is what it is.

Every time I took a breath my body ached. I wanted to fall asleep, in my own bed and not on the cold ground. Not in the containment unit.

 _ **I was sent by Oryx to help you. You killed me before I had a chance.**_ It hummed in my mind. But I felt no pain, only odd comfort.

"If I do remember correctly," I shifted to look at it. " _you_ attacked _me._ "

 _ **You, were killing brethren. Wouldn't you do the same?**_

I turned around, drawing my knees up to my chest again, and placing my head on them. "Yes. But I don't want a servant of the Dark. So I suggest you give up on that." I stared at it. It had sat down in front of me. My heart was still racing and anxiousness was still in my veins.

I brought my hand up to wipe the tears when the Thralls clawed hand touched mine.

I jerked back when I felt the pull of the Light reach out to me, instead of the Dark I expected.

"What are you?" I whispered harshly.

 _ **I am Enki. And I am your servant of Light, and Dark.**_


	8. Six

I laid my head back against the wall, and closed my eyelids. My heart was slowing down to its normal pace. I had sat, silently for minutes. Nate's banging had stopped. I knew he was watching. Looking over, I locked eyes with him, his hands were still on the glass, and he was staring intently at him. It was worry in his eyes and his mouth was in a deeply set frown.

"I don't need a servant." I stressed to the Thrall in front of me. I was still looking at my friend.

 _ **You wish to get out, yes?**_

"Yes." I rolled my head back to it. It sat hunched, blood dripped onto the floor. My eyes traveled to it. "Does that bother you?" I asked, and returned to staring at the ceiling. I had been studying it for a while now. And I was now wondering what each dent, each mark was. It had been through a lot.

I wonder what stories it could tell?

 _ **It is a wall, Awoken. There are no stories to tell.**_

My heart leaped in my chest, _it_ knew what I was thinking.

 _ **I am not an it, either.**_

"Get out of my mind," I spat at it. "What are you classified as, even? You are an 'it' Thrall doesn't suit you." I narrowed my eyes at _it_.

 _ **I told you, Guardian. I am Enki. You should address me as such. And no matter what you believe, I am your servant, and you will have to accept me.**_

"I am still confused on your origin." I mumbled and lowered my head.

 _ **I am your manifestation of Dark in its purest form.**_

"Oh. So all my bad thoughts go to you?"

 _ **In a sense.**_

"That," I paused, and wagged a finger at Enki. "is unsettling." But what was really unsettling was the fact that I was comfortable around Enki. That I was already finding myself relaxed around him, I think its a him at least. He didn't sound as he though had a gender.

I didn't feel frightened, or at least as much as I was in the first place.

 _ **If you view it that way, then yes. It can be most unsettling.**_

I looked to him, I decided a pronoun, and tapped my finger on the floor. "Isn't it ironic? That out of all of your species I killed in Asia, I picked you to transport here?"

 _ **Our fates were intertwined from the beginning, Guardian. Ever since you awoke. Your unnatural levels of Dark**_ _**were pushed out by the Speaker. Thus, I was created. As of now, your Darkness is slowly coming back. Slowly, your soul is coming back together from being scattered by the very people you trusted.**_

 _ **Think about it. Is the Dark such a bad thing?**_

His hush whispers in my mind lulled me. I wanted to sleep and not think about what he had said, or the fact that my trusted mentors had locked me up down here.

I didn't want to think. But I had to. Because it was needed, not for Nate, not for the Vanguard, but for me.

"The Dark is the very thing I have fought, Enki." I scooted closer to him. "The people I trusted have betrayed me, yes, but I know why. I understand. And that is what I have to believe. Our fates are intertwined, I believe that now. But how am I going to propose you? They will kill you." I murmured.

I felt at ease now completely. My body was loose and relaxed. Enki looked the same, or as same as he could be. I was close to a creature oozing with blood, a busted throat and an exposed brain.

Who was the monster, really? Me? Or him?

 _ **They won't kill me. Guardian. I am useful to them, I have seen into their minds, as twisted as they are they will not kill me.**_

I watched his blood streaming slowly onto the floor, a never ending waterfall. "Do you serve Oryx?"

Now, I looked up at him. Every time he would breathe spurts of blood sprayed in front of him. My eyebrows drew together as I waited for his answer.

 _ **He sent me for you, to protect you and be with you. I serve you.**_

I shook my head, and I felt a frown on my face. "You're your own entity. You choose what is needed for you. I am not one to hold anyone back." Reaching back, I grabbed my discarded tank.

"You can only choose what to be," I shook my head as turned back around with my tank top, and I shifted closer to him. Not even an inch apart. The smell of decay was strong. So was the amount of blood that my knees were currently in.

I ripped the big tank top in half, _**Guardian. I chose to do this. To be the one by your side I chose a long time ago.**_

His words echoed in my head. He was still. And I could feel that now, he was uncomfortable and afraid of me. I cocked my head slightly.

"Then I will just have to accept you are my servant. I won't let the Vanguard hurt you, Enki." I smiled at him. "Will you let me fix you?"

My fingers lightly touched his busted head. He recoiled instantly. Closing my fingers, I sighed. He was so again, a few minutes ago, I had been too.

 _ **I am sorry, for I have not been touched. Fore now, Miss**_ _._

I drew in a breath, breathing out through my nose. If I sucked in my breaths deep enough, I could smell the decay. I was getting used to it, sadly.

"You just need a little Light, Enki." I said, wistfully. Blood thudded against my veins, against my skin. I wasn't nervous. Just...

Off.

I felt off.

I felt my hand being nudged and I saw him bumping his hand against it. I gave a quivering smile as I patted his head. I tilted his head up, black blood running down my arms, and my legs. It was hot and it seemed to seep into my skin.

Ignoring the nauseous feeling in my gut, I took my white tank top and looped it around Enki's neck, and pulled one half under the other and widened it vertically along the column of his bloody neck. I tied it, and tightened the knot I had made. The blood was slowly seeping through the fabric. But it helped.

"Doesn't it hurt?" I murmured to him as I sat back to look at the effectiveness of my handiwork. All the times I repaired Nate on the battlefield came in handy now.

 _ **No, Guardian.**_

His head was still smashed inwards. I looked down, focusing on my boots. Guilt, that's what I felt. It gnawed at me.

 _ **Do not waste your emotions. You need to focus them on other things then my well being. Your friend on the other side is watching you with interest. I do thank you, for dressing me.**_

I had ignored him and chose not to reply as I took off my boot, and stuck my hand in it. I know Nate, and Enki watched me with curiosity as I felt around in my boot. It was warm and damp inside. I hissed when my finger found what I was looking for, which kicked my index finger. I lifted the small knife by the blade and put my boot back on.

I propped my up leg on the wall, and gripped the small knife by its handle and slid it across my upper thighs, cutting through thick legging. I felt the sting as it slid across my flesh.

I ripped the rest of the legging off, and then moved to my right thigh. The pain stung, but I welcomed it.

 _ **Guardian**_ **.**

I heard his voice in my head, and I looked back for a second. "Mmm?" The cloth was in my mouth and I finished ripping off the other part of the thick material. I took the two long pieces of cloth and held them up to look at them.

Both were approximately the same length. My thighs bled, blackness cascading down them. Now I had cut off shorts.

 _ **What are you doing?**_

"Helping you." I muttered and stood, walking over to him. He had moved, farther back into the depths of the containment area.

I keeled down in front of him and with the cloth in my mouth, I took his battered head into my hands gently. Unlike last time, he didn't recoil with disgust or fear. I took the cloth from my mouth and tore the stitches at the inner thigh area to make it bigger. I wrapped the first part around his exposed brain tissue, and used the second one to reinforce the first. I tied it as gently as I could.

Now I couldn't see his exposed brain, or his dangling throat.

I huffed as I landed on my bum. "There you go."

 _ **I will heal, you didn't have to do this.**_

His thin body crawled towards mine, and I sighed. "I just didn't want to look at you, brains and esophagus exposed." I laughed before I knew it, the sound bouncing off the glass.

 _ **Now I know how you really feel**_ _._ I heard light amusement in his voice.

"Yeah.." I trailed off and my laughter ceased. The remains of it bounding through the room.

 _ **You're friend, Guardian. He is in need.**_

I got up, and looked to him, and I felt my muscles tighten, as well as my chest. There was evident pain, and dents in the glass. His bulky boot was in was hand, raised to slam in the glass. There may have been pain.

But there was also anger.

He didn't notice me, but I noticed him. Every muscle that rippled underneath his shirt, and under his short sleeved shirt. The sweat dripped off his nose, and his long hair was sticking to his face and neck.

Angrily beautiful.

I pressed my palm to the glass, and it shook with force when he brought his boot down on the fiber glass.

I could almost hear his angry yells and curses. I don't know how long his gaze was off me, but he was taken over by blind anger.

I moved, standing in front of him. I put my forehead to the glass, closing my eyes. "Nate." I murmured. I felt his stare.

The thing with the glass, he can hear me. But I cannot hear him. Or anyone, anything, outside of it.

There was a thump, and I looked up to see his hand on the glass. His lips moved. _Kyrine._

"I am fine, Nate. I will be fine." I told him. He shook his head. His eyes lowered. And I tapped the glass, bringing his attention back up to me. "I am safe."

Then his eyes narrowed, and he wasn't looking at me anymore. He was looking behind me. And I knew he was looking at Enki. I felt his presence behind me. Then beside me. I looked down at him and smiled. He didn't commune anything, only hunkered down beside me.

Nate didn't say much. Only looked at the battered Thrall. 

He watched as the Thrall advanced on her, he couldn't feel it. But he knew she was fearful. Her chest rose and fell, and her tank top was balled up in her hand, she clutched it tightly. Eyes wide, mouth gaping.

It snarled at her, and he frantically pounded on the fiber glass more. "Kyrine! KYRINE!" He shouted at the top of his lungs when he saw tears flow down her face.

Horrified, he stopped as the Thrall came closer to her. "No!" It snapped back and blood covered her, spraying over every inch.

She was scared, it was evident. But she stood her ground. He closed his eyes when tendons dangled bloodily form its throat. He could hear it screech its voice box out.

It felt like hours, but in reality it was only minutes when she spoke.

"You." He heard her soft yet accusing voice echo. He opened his eyes, her hand was outstretched to the monster.

One minute she was crying, terrified. Next she was reaching out to the Dark.

Anger boiled hotly inside of him, anger at Zavala. Anger at Ikora. Pure hot hatred.

They did this, they locked her in there.

And there was nothing he could do about it. He kept pounding his fists. He kept yelling and shouting. He knew she couldn't hear, but as livid as he was it didn't matter wether or not she heard.

He heard her one siding conversing, it sounded like she was talking to herself.

But he figured, that she was really talking to the _monster_ across from her.

He sat for a long time. The emotions running through his mind we're dealing havoc on his body. Vaguely, he heard her speaking. Her voice was soft yet hard, edgy and tired.

 _Yes_

 _Do you serve Oryx?_

 _They will kill you._

Her words, her voice. Her tired, spent voice.

Looking back up, he shouted intelligibly when she started ripping at her legging, dragging a knife across her thighs.

"What are you DOING!" He shouted at her. He felt hot all over.

Hot with rage.

He watched as beads of blood ran down her leg. It contrasted against the pale blue of her skin, and it made him sick.

Her self-inflicted pain. She rose and walked to the Thrall, taking small and quiet steps.

Then, she cradled his beaten, bloody head in her hands, speaking softly. He couldn't hear her. He didn't want to.

As she wrapped the torn pieces of cloth around his head, Nathaniel was shouting curses. And hate pulsed trough him, not towards the girl behind the glass.

But toward the monster across from her.

He slammed his body into the glass, yelling. The thick glass was dented more each time he rammed himself into it.

His body ached, his chest ached, he ached.

But he kept going, and going. Throwing himself against what lie between him, and his friend.

She was _helping_ the monster. She was _nurturing_ the Dark.

He ran into the glass at full speed, one last time. The impact cracked the thick barrier. But he was spent.

He was defeated by what separated him from the one thing that mattered.

Anger boiled and bubbled, rising up to engulf him. He couldn't yell, his voice was near gone. There were no tears, only blood pumping furiously in his veins.

And then, like Kyrine, the emotion was overwhelming. And he stopped feeling it.

It was there, it wouldn't go away.

But he was drained. And he was done.

He put his forehead to the cracked glass, panting. Fog bloomed on the slick surface.

 _"Nate."_

He was imagining, wasn't he? Her voice seemed so far away. He heard it, amplified. Did he want to hear it? Did he want to see her?

No. Yes.

Her forehead was on his. And he could almost feel her.

His eyes connected with hers, his hand rested on the glass. "Kyrine." He croaked out.

 _"I am fine, Nate. I will be fine."_ Her voice as soothing. It washed over him. He shook his head and looked at the floor.

"Kyrine.." He mumbled.

 _"I am safe."_

But she wasn't.

She won't ever be again.

Mindless thinking, that's what Nathaniel was doing now. And he was staring at the monster behind his friend.

Thinking aimlessly.

She looked down, and he was brought back to reality and away from his thoughts.

She was smiling at it. She wasn't smiling at him.

"Kyrine." He said her name again, he knew she couldn't hear him.

But she looked up. A hand was rested on the Thralls head. Her other hand was picking shards of glass away from the crack.

He watched as her fingertips bled, black blood. **Black** blood.

His eyes snapped down to her legs, and he looked to the blood running down her legs. And realized it was black blood. Her blood and not the blood from the Thrall she kneeled in.

Was she one of them?

No, she wasn't. Oryx may have touched her with Darkness. He may have altered her looks, but not her resolve. Not her mind.

It was Kyrine in there, it was. There was no _it has to be_ or _must be._ It is her.

It will always be her.

A creak of a door opening brought Nathaniel out of his thoughts, thought the girl was still picking out loose glass shards.

It was Ikora. Her head was held high, robes billowing.

And her eyes were hard.


	9. Seven

Jo circled the lip of her glass with her fingernail. She looked into the amber liquid blankly. But her knee was bouncing. She was nervous, drowning herself in liqour.

Sean watched her, eyebrows knitted together.

"Jo."

She blew her black hair out of her face, and her knee bounced faster.

He leaned forward, and grabbed her knee under the table. Her eyes snapped up at him. "What." She snarled.

"Stop doing that," She raised an eyebrow and her jaw tightened. "That. Your little ticks. Kyrine, wherever she is, is surely fine."

Jo's eyes narrowed at Sean, and she looked elsewhere. The apartment was silent. Sean's flat was plain, a blotch of red here and there. Orange carpets. But overall whiteness. Blankness. Like her mind was now.

Where is Kyrine? Blank.

Should they contact the Vanguard? Blank.

"I'm going to throw the rug at you if you keep staring at it." He huffed, blue-green eyes rolling.

Slowly, she turned her eyes back up to him.

"I'm worried."

"I tried contact with Nate, nothing. Justin and Sarah answered, Nate _may_ be with her." He sighed. And thought back to the times Kyrine had disappeared from the scanners, into the Wild.

Her tracking device would short out, and no one would know where she had went. Then days later, the white dot bleeped and she was back.

They didn't know how she disconnected it, then again..

No one wanted to know.

She'd always done her own thing, been her own person. Never to let any of them get _too_ close. And never _too_ far.

A feeling simmered low in both their guts. Uncertainty. Worry.

Abruptly, Jo downed the beer in front of her. She coughed once, and belched.

"Ew, Jo, why? Just- ugh. Ugh." He whined flailing his arms. Jo's lips stretched into a small grin.

"Can I have more, please?" She asked sweetly, showing her white teeth. A genuine smile. Almost snarky.

Groaning, he got off the stool and walked to the other side of the countertop. Jo watched him, broad shouldered, tan with flaming ginger hair. Muscular legs and arms.

She grunted to herself, raising her glass and cursing when there wasn't anything to drink away her embarrassment. She pulled on her long sleeved shirt and picked at the faded Tower logo on the hem.

She tugged on her hair with her other hand, watching as he grabs a bottled drink out of the white fridge.

He flashed her a small smile, and uncapped it. It came off with a hiss and tendrils of frosty air curled upwards. It was a black painted bottle. The label had been painted over. But faintly the word _Green_ could be seen.

He walked over to her, and slid it to her side. "This guy right here, over 750 years old. I found it one day when I was in a town in the Wilds. It's almost funny... that in the stage of an alien apocalypse that the beer is persevered and not historical documents." He tapped the bottle, humming to himself.

Jo looked up at him in curiosity.

"It's called The Green Man." He said.

Sean looked back down at her, hair fell over his eye. His face was blank. There was silence for a few moments and then he pushed himself off the counter.

Hands still on the top of the granite, he looked out his window. He lived in the Tower, on the lower levels. But it still gave him a substantial view.

Sparrows, Speeders, cars going in different directions. Cloudless day.

Yet, in his mind it was cloudy. Stormy.

Jo sniffed the drink, and reared back. Old beer was heck of a lot potent then what they came out with now.

It smelled like oranges, and she peered into the bottle. Brown specks floated in it.

Sean turned back and shook his head at her. "It's harmless."

She mumbled something and raised the black cup to her red lips. And drank.

Clearing her throat she looked up at him.

"This is...ah..strong." She coughed. Oranges. Tasted like oranges.

He gave her a hinted smile. "That's how pre-collapse beer tastes. Strong, and not watered down as the City makes it these days." Sean took the black cup, and drifted his knuckles across her olive skin.

"It also takes your mind off of things. Like Kyrine, like Nate. It helps." He murmured, her eyes closed.

Only one sip from the black cup, and Jo's body felt in depth warmth, and her skin tingled. She sighed when he touched her.

"I can only hope."

He tugged the rest of her hair out of her loose bun, and her short waves came down, kissing her shoulders. He knew how much the alcohol helped. And that it would help her.

He placed the cup down after taking a sip from it, and her rubber band that help up her thick hair.

Jo breathed through her nose, enjoying pleasurable burning in her throat.

"You're so uptight, so worried. Where's the fun, giggling girl that I knew a year ago?" He murmured to her. She sighed again.

"Sometimes to be Light, we must conserve our laughter for the Dark." She spoke lowly, brown eyes opening and looking into his vibrant ones.

He hummed in the back of his throat, nudging the cup toward her. She gripped it lightly and downed more.

Red lipstick stained the black up, and she looked at it intently. His fingers disappeared from her face, and she felt cold.

"Or, you could fuel your happiness into your Light," Sean said, and drank from the cup. "And shine brighter then them all."

The tingly feeling spread, settling mainly in her stomach. Giddy excitement.

There was a little giggle that escaped her mouth now.

"Maybe." She smiled up at him, eyes settling on his now red stained lips.

He winked. "Just maybe."

•*•*•*•*•

"Nathaniel."

"Ikora," He contained the snarl.

Kyrine was still picking at the glass, shards falling on the white floor behind the barrier.

She heard Ikora, she knew she was there. Anger swelled. Enki was crouched in a corner, having moved away to be holed up in a corner away from the Warlock Vanguard.

In the middle of the glass room, the broken bottle remained. Black droplets of blood coated the floor around it.

Ikora was looking at the broken bottle, then to Kyrine's blood-glistening legs.

"How is she?"

Nathaniel's head turned to her. "She's trapped in a room with a bloody Thrall, what you _you_ think, Ikora Rey. Our _beloved Vanguard._ " He growled, not trying to hide his hate.

She glanced at him. His long, wet hair plastered to his shoulders. Brown eyes simmering.

"Beloved is correct, stand vigilant, Guardian." She said sternly and ignored his jeer.

She brushed past him, her hands were clasped behind her back. Her back was ramrod straight. A woman that knew what she was doing, that is how she looked.

That's how she felt.

"Guardian." Ikora murmured to glass. "I know you can hear me."

And she could, oh so clearly. She picked at the shards more urgently and hissed when a shard buried itself into her skin.

Holding her finger, she looked up to Ikora Rey.

Black blood pulsed from her finger, and she quickly grabbed the thick sharp and pulled it out, dropping it to the floor. Kyrine pressed her finger to her cutoff leggings, hiding the blood.

"I can hear you." She said. Loud and clear.

She turned when something nudged her blood-coated leg. Enki was beside her, wrapped in all of her ripped clothing.

Kyrine pressed her hand to the cracked glass and breathed. Her eyes were dilated, her breath fogged the glass.

"I can hear all of you."


	10. Eight

The only reason she heard them was because of Enki. He relayed their words, and as he did she slowly started to hear the words Ikora said. Her full lips moved. And she heard the words.

She heard everything.

The blood dripping on the floor. Nathaniel's heavy breathing. She raised her hand to rest on the cracked glass, shards cutting into her skin. Blood coated the glass and stained it pink.

"What do you want?" Kyrine seethed.

Ikora's gaze was leveled with hers. "Answers."

"I'm sure they're not ones I am willing to give." She snarled, anger simmered in her black veins. Her eyes narrowed. Nathaniel watched; pulse quickening when he heard shards fall to the floor outside of the glass confinement.

His eyes darted from the glass falling to her narrowed eyes that were focused on the menacing woman in front of her.

 _She was breaking through._

Ikora payed no attention to the shards at her feet. Only the terrifying expression that was set on the woman's face. Her nose was scrunched and her teeth were bared. Her gums had now turned black, and her pristine teeth that were clenched in anger.

And Ikora relished the fact that it was her she was angry at.

"With persuasion anything is possible."

With that remark the room was silent, save for Kyrine's finger picking away at loose shards. And blood dripping on the floor under her.

She eyed the hand cannon strapped to the Vanguard woman's waist. Her posture was rigid, expecting anything from the livid woman behind the glass. Both were expecting something from the other, scenarios ran through Kyrine's head. Anger was bubbling between them now.

 _Break the glass with a kick or punch, minor casualties. Disoriented Ikora is the best Ikora._ I thought to myself.

She had the balls of a god damned Ogre.

Locking me up with biological warfare was low. Ikora didn't go low unless what she was going low _for,_ was higher then what was standing in her way.

 _'With persuasion anything is possible.'_

With persuasion, anything really is possible, isn't it?

There were probably thousands of words to say to her, to express the hatred I felt.

But only two of them really conveyed anything.

"Fuck. You."

And then the glass shattered. The whole wall crumbled, shards bounced off the floor, and it sounded like thousands of souls had been released.

Ikora's eyes widened, and her lips parted. I didn't see Nate's reaction.

A scream echoed in the room as I tackled her to the floor.

Nathaniel watched the glass crumble, the whole front wall collapsed between Vanguard and Guardian. There was a cynical smile that slowly came onto his friends face as the shards fell quickly.

He couldn't see Ikora's face, but her body seemed frozen in time. Frozen by fear?

The little monster beside her heaved a breath and jerked its head. It's hiss slithered from its mouth disgustingly.

And then, Kyrine lunged.

A feral scream left her mouth as she tackled Ikora to the floor. She was straddling the Vanguard woman, her hand were on either sides of her face.

Ikora was dazed, one moment she was looking into the hatred of a young woman and next she was on the floor being straddled by her. Kyrine heaved, her bright eyes were wild and her nostrils flared. And Nate watched silently as she assaulted Ikora.

"Something isn't right." Erin muttered, running a shaking hand through her hair.

She had been in the archives for hours, looking through multiple books and data discs trying to find _something, anything_ on Oryx.

And her search had proven useless.

"It's like all evidence of his existence had been wiped clean from the archives." She told herself, and leaner against a bookshelf that was full of decaying books.

There was next to nothing on the father of Crota. Only that he had gone by a female name before he took reign of Darkness.

 _Auryx._ The name bounced around in her mind.

She sighed in defeat and put her head in her hands, her fingers tightened on head.

 _It's as if someone took all evidence and information of him, and hid it._ She thought to herself.

But then there was another question that lead to more theories and more questions:

 ** _Why?_**

The archives were a partially deserted and neglected part of the Tower, only accessible to members of the Vanguard, and Cryptarchs. And, technically, she was a Cryptarch.

Blue lights hung from the ceiling and lined the bottoms of the bookshelves and tables, and dust collected on all surfaces. From what her mentor had told her, people stopped going to the Tower archives. Because there was nothing that appealed to them. It was all pre-Collapse history, or what was left of it.

And since people stopped going to it, there was no need for upkeep.

"Annnnd since there was no need for upkeep, this place is basically a forgotten monument." She mumbled, pissed at herself suddenly.

All the important books and knowledge were contained in higher levels of the Tower and were only accessible to Zavala and Ikora Rey.

 _Not_ to Cade. Because Cade would go public and the press would be all **over** that.

Erin remembered a conversation she had with Kyrine when they were camping outside the Wall.

 _Kyrine let out a whoop and shook her head, laughing. "I can already see the headlines, and Zavala's face."_

 _Erin started in a deep voice to mimic old reporters, "Knowledge being kept from defenseless civilians uncovered by the one and only Guardians!" She laughed loudly and kicked more wood into the orange flames._

 _"Riots, riots, everywhere." Kyrine mumbled with a grin. "And you know what's interesting?" She rose an eyebrow._

 _Erin motioned her head for her friend to go on._

 _"We don't even know where that sacred knowledge is."_

 _Kyrine looked at her lazily. "And we don't know if there's really even anything worth thinking about."_

 _Her brunette friend looked up, and in the distance, surrounded by clusters of stars and night sky, the Tower stood vigilant. Then she looked to her right, to Kyrine. "Yeah."_

She pushed herself off the bookshelf and grabbed her thick brown hair, piling it onto her head and shoving a pen into it to hold it up.

"Don't get distracted." She hissed to herself and rapped her fingers on her armored arm. Erin's right arm was covered in plates made from Thrall bones, and she was wearing a loose black shirt with white shorts and old shoes she had gotten from a pre-Collapse junk yard.

She stood in the intersection between the books, her arms were crossed and her eyes were narrowed at nothing.

 _Kyrine._

Worry started to climb up her throat, and she took a deep breath and let it out. No contact from her friend, or the Vanguard in two days.

"And you're distracted." She berated herself halfheartedly.

When she tried to call her, all she got was static.

Nate wasn't responding either.

She rubbed her temples, taking deep breaths.

"They're okay, right?" She asked herself softly, looking at nothing.

The archives remained silent. And she was alone in the blue-lit warehouse of old knowledge.

Ikora lifted her hands to try block the punches and blows Kyrine was hitting her with, but the girl stepped on her wrists with her knees and packed more force into her blows. Black blood ran down her arm, passing her wrist. Ikora's eyes widened as it got closer and closer to her face.

"Don't want to be infected, huh?" Kyrine grabbed her by the collar and whispered. "You deserve it." Blood seeped onto the collar of her elaborate dress.

"Guardian," Ikora forced out, coughing when her own blood ran into her mouth from her bloody nose, "stand down."

"Stand. _Down?_ " She asked slowly. "You locked me up just like you did Eris Morn and you expect me to _stand down?"_ Ikora was silent, and jerked away from her collar when the blood started to eat away at the material.

"I don't have your damn answers Ikora. And if you go so far as to locking me up, it shows how fearful you, and the rest of the Vanguard, really are." She snarled. "And I looked up to you. Ever since I was brought in. I followed all of your orders and missions and my reward...my reward is being locked up in a fucking cell?" She spoke lowly, and pummeled Ikora's face to the floor.

Ikora breathed heavily, her eyes were narrowed. But she said nothing. Red blood leaked onto the white floor. She watched it spread, her knuckles became stained with the blood of her superior.

"I'm done." She whispered to herself.

"You're not done-" she wheezed for breath. "-Guardian." Ikora murmured as blood spilled through her lips. Kyrine blinked heavily. The room wasn't right. The room wasn't white.

And then the room was black.

She fell, limp, on the bloodied woman as a sigh escaped her lips.


	11. Nine

He watched her black out, her eyes rolled back into her head. She collapsed and her body shut down from the breach in the dam of emotions. Her fingers uncurled, and opened her palms up. A small sigh passed through her black lips, and Ikora looked at her then placed her hands on her shoulders, trembling.

And Nathaniel watched as Ikora tried feebly to push her off of her person.

There was a heavy clicking noise, and raspy breath filled the room when Kyrine's words of hatred finished bounding off the walls.

Ikora didn't pay attention to the Thrall hobbling towards her, she only put more energy into her pushes. Nathaniel broke out of his trance and started towards Ikora, his footsteps fell silent as he made his way to the Vanguard woman.

But the Thall made it there before he did.

Enki placed a clawed hand on his master's back, and Ikora immediately stopped pushing on the limp woman on her. The Thrall nudged Kyrine off Ikora, her body slid onto the white floor.

Nate now stood over her, his face was grim.

"Guardian." Ikora rose her voice to a strong tone, licking the blood off her lips.

He was looking at the battered Thrall who nudged Kyrine farther away from the dark skinned woman. His mouth was turned down in a grim line and his face was shadowed from his long hair falling in front of his face as he looked down on his commander.

A small, deep laugh was heard. "It's ironic. You, my better, down by my feet. Bruised and bloody by the hands of your disciple."

Enki nudged Kyrine's body into proper position, her body straight and her hands by her side. Her mouth hung open, her chest rose an fell slowly. Her brow were relaxed and her lips were parted. She looked peaceful, the first time since Oryx surface and took control of what everyone knew to be.

If only he could keep her that way, happy and peaceful. A deep frown settled across his features.

Oryx had turned Mentor against student, disrupting the daily life and order of everything. All to take over the expanse of the resistance, the Guardians.

All to have his grip, holding to every corner of the Galaxy. His eyes then narrowed maliciously toward Ikora.

She was silent, eye swollen and mouth bleeding.

And he turned, picking up his friend. Kyrine felt like a dead weight in his arms. He was sweaty, shirtless and seemingly hopeless.

Enki was a silent enigma behind him, waiting for Nathaniel to make a move.

He fumbled with his red key card, his name was pressed into it, and pressed it against the scanner to open uh door.

The door opened quickly, the white slides slid into the crevices to open up the view to the hallway.

And there stood Cayde.

The EXO wasn't as banged up as Nathaniel would've perceived. Paint peeled off his head and his bright cobalt eyes, seemed dimmer. His eyes snapped to Kyrine in his arms. And his optics furrowed.

"Nathan, what happened?" His voice had multiple cracks, like his vocals had been damaged and fragments remained. He looked to Ikora, who lay still behind the trio and in the containment unit.

"Ikora." Nate's voice was rough and protective as he stood in front of the ghastly Thrall with Kyrine.

"Come on." He ushered them out the door, his hands flailing, he kept his voice low so Ikora wouldn't know he was the one at the door. Nathaniel saw that two of his fingers had been seemingly chewed off, the metallic nerves showed, spilling and crackling with electricity.

They walked quickly down the silent hallway, Cade moved with speed and Nathaniel kept up with Kyrine limp in his arms.

"Up," He ordered as they came to the old stairwell. No one used it anymore, now that there were multiple elevators.

"No cameras. " Cade verified for Nathaniel and shoved him into the dark and shut the door behind them. Their footfalls stopped and deathly silence followed.

The dark stairwell had been eaten away by the dark matter that Nathaniel and Kyrine had seen on Phobos. The dark matter dimly illuminated the eaten away metal stairs, and distant shrieks were heard.

"It has spread to the Tower, we must hurry." His voice sounded like static over a radio. Nathaniel narrowed his eyes at the Hunter. "Where are we going."

"That was more of a statement then a question, Guardian. We are going to the Hall. We need to come up with an idea fast or Darkness will consume the Last City."

Cayde's original plan had been for Kyrine to run to the Wilds, and stay until she was called back.

But events have changed, and the Tower is under attack.

Nathaniel ignored the fact that Zavala would most likely be there, the man who he once looked up to.

And punched. Enki scaled the walls beside the stairs, class sinking into the weak wood and avoiding the pools of Darkness.

"Nathan, look at me." Cayde ordered, voice weary from the punch the man had thrown.

The man beside the EXO fidgeted in his place. But he didn't look at him. It wasn't his fault. He tried to help. But the urge to tear out his optics was overwhelming. The EXO sighed.

"Don't touch the wooden walls. These walls were made a long time ago. The wood has rotted away and Darkness has come through the holes. Don't be consumed." he finished lowly and followed after the climbing thrall.

Nathaniel nodded wordlessly and tightened his grip on Kyrine, making sure to hold her tightly. Her bare stomach was pressed up against him, and, somehow, he felt relief that she was with him. He took a second to look down at her glowing skin and soft features.

Enki's claws left holes in the decaying wood, but the rotten wood didn't give away when he was climbing. Nathaniel stepped up onto the high stairs and felt cold when the metal let out a wail from beneath his feet. The dark matter was spreading rapidly across the walls and down the old railing.

The floor was a wide expanse, black and white tiles covered the floor and the walls were old, rotting wood from before the collapse. The metal stair case was worn, narrow and steep.

But he climbed, and each pool of Darkness he passed the shrieks of the Dark became louder.

Cayde was behind him, the luminescent particles made his battered appearance ethreal and his eyes seemed even brighter despite Darkness curling around him.

Whispers called out to all of them And the lights of the Dark grew more vibrant, splaying across Kyrine's face. Her skin seemed to glow brighter in the Dark, and her white hair hung limp.

Enki was on the ceiling above Nathaniels head, circling and shrieking in response to the growing noise. As they went up more and more flights of abandoned stair wells, the pools of Darkness were scarcer and scarcer.

Cayde turned his light on so they could see where they were going once the Dark was no longer there, there was only the creaking of stairs and the rapping of Enki's claws on the celing as they went up.

Jo typed furiously on her outdated laptop, slender fingers reaching for a key slowly and then picking up the strokes again, faster.

She sat in the old archives with Erin, who wasn't anywhere to be seen amongst the blue lit warehouse.

Her hair was messy and down, her brown eyes narrowed on the screen in concentration.

"I cant find anything," She called out to Erin, where ever she was.

Silence followed, and her brows drew together. But she continued typing, pulling up websites and pages, looking for any scrap of information on Oryx, or Auryx, to dissect.

She looked up, picking at the lacquer on her nails. There was a light, glowing. It was hundreds of feet away, but still noticeable.

"Erin?"

She shut the lid of the laptop, and the luminated Traveler symbol on the back of the lid faded. Placing the laptop on the make-shift kitchen island and standing up. Her heels clicked as she walked to the aisles of bookshelves. There was no sign of Erin's flashlight being waved around in search of books, or the glow she had seen from the small den.

"Erin?" Jo yelled again. Her voice bounded of the walls of the huge warehouse.

Again, no response.

"Ny," She spoke softly to her Ghost, who appeared. "Light, please."

Soft light emmited from the floating bot, reaching to all the bookshelves and behind every corner.

It followed Jo as she turned corners, parting books to see through to the other side. But there was no sign of Erin or her workspace, no floral bag over spilling with CD cases and filled notebooks.

No stray pencils, no pens. No evidence of Erin even being in the archives.

Worry and anxiety made her body grow cold, and her steps for quicker and her strides longer. Her heels clapped like thunder on the floor.

"Erin? Erin?!" She yelled as loud as she could. The bookshelves seemed to curve around her like a labyrinth, and the blue lights seemed nauseating now. But she had reached the glow.

Ny's light shuddered like a strobe Light, and Jo stopped when the voices started.

Whispers filtered through the books, speaking into her ear and hushing all other sounds.

The archives delved into Darkness, blue washed out to a sick hue of green and the lamps glowed an eerie yellow. Her long skirts picked up in an unfelt wind and goosebumps erupted across her exposed shoulders and arms.

"Erin?" she whispered to the Dark, her eyes are somber and tired. Her face a pitiful mask of hopelessness as Oryx carressed her cheek lovingly.

 _"My Guardian."_


	12. Ten

I heard a door open and artificial light beat down on my closed eyelids, I was being carried by Nate. The only reason I knew that is because it smelled like him. Sweat and metal.

Nate-smell.

My hands, which were limp, hurt from punching Ikora. And my heart felt heavy with presence of Darkness. I opened my eyes, looking up at Nate, who didn't notice I was awake. Him and Cayde were talking about something that I couldn't make out. It felt like my head was stuffed with cotton.

His mouth was moving and his nostrils were flaring. His shoulder length hair was damp, and his brown eyes flared with anger. I smiled to myself, Nate. I felt Cayde look to me, looking up at Nate. I pressed my hand to his bare chest.

Cayde's headlight was on us, and I looked into Nate's eyes when he looked at me. I smiled again.

"Kyrine."

"Hello."

"Glad to see you're back with us," Cyade nodded to me and I looked to him. "Darkness has spread to the lower stairwells, we are taking the stairs so Zavala won't locate us until we are in the Hall. Ikora is still in the Quarantine Unit, and won't be up anytime soon." He grinned at me.

Darkness..in the Tower? I ignore my twisting gut, my back was aching from being carried so long.

"What floor are we on?" I mumbled softly to Nate.

He as still looking at me, "89th floor. There are a hundred floors in the damned place." His spoke softly, Cayde did as well. Were we approaching danger?

I stared at his chest, while Cayde went on up to scope out the next floor. He said something about not wanting to be caught off guard, leaving me and Nate alone.

We were in the dark.

"Kyrine?" His voice wasn't shielded and hard like it usually was. He was lowering himself down onto a step carefully, putting most of strength into his legs so he wouldn't drop me. I felt it. I felt him.

"Yes?" I answered.

We were sitting now. The stairwell was cold, and my exposed skin made me shiver. He tightened his arms around me in response before speaking. He was warm and sweaty, not that I cared.

"How are you feeling?" He asked.

How was I _feeling_? I didn't know, physically I was aching. Everywhere. My hands felt sore from punching Ikora. My head hurt from the spiral of previous emotions. Anger, hatred, fear. I didn't feel good. I bet I didn't look good either. But he couldn't see me now that Cayde's light was gone. I looked up at him.

"I'm okay."

"That is a lie. I know where you're lying, and you're lying." He said stubbornly.

"Mmm," I hummed and put my head on his chest. "No, I think you're wrong." His heartbeat was fast. But his breathing was calm.

Closing my eyes, I smiled when he huffed angrily. "You need to learn to trust people."

I shook my head on his chest. "It is not about trusting people, Nate. It's about carrying burdens. I know that if I told you then you would try to carry the burden that is mine to bear. It's not logical." I tell him softly and my breath hitting his chest.

He stiffened when I spoke, my lips brushed his chest. I was made to make him uncomfortable, to bring his high and mighty attitude down a notch. And that's what I do.

"Learn to be irrational, like you taking trips into the Wilds, disappearing off the face of the Earth for months, that is irrational." He quipped, his voice raising a notch.

"You rutting with your whores on the Hall table is irrational. Taking vacation is not." Was my snarky reply.

"Okay, that was a year ago."

"Still irrational. You know, you don't have to carry me anymore." I turned my face into his chest, and curled myself into his warmth. I felt heavy on this inside, but now it's just warmth.

"I know." He said into the dark. His voice seemed distant now.

"I know." He said again.

The green light faded, and Jo dropped to the floor. Whispers receded back into the Dark, and Oryx's Dark finger caressed her face one last time, telling her of the Tower's destruction and evident fall. Her throat was still suffocated by Darkness, her voice was like gravel, her gasps sounded like rock scraping on pavement. Her body withered on the floor, her chest heaved, trying to suck in musty air.

Her fingertips flickered with orange light, burning and fizzling.

The Light ate away at the Darkness infiltrating her body. She clutches her throat, brown eyes opening and closing as Darkness seeped into her irises.

Her fingers felt hot on her neck, the Light seeped into her skin and spread into her bloodstream, making the bookcases around her glow from the Light inside her.

Oryx's presence fled the room, taking along with him the Darkness that was crawling along the Wizard's body.

The sickening light lessened in the room, blue taking over slowly.

The glow receded, and the Light faded.

Jo gasped, her fingernails dug into the carpet as she tried to regain her vision. The carpet fibers tore and stuck to the underneath of her fingernails as she tore at the flooring.

Her mouth opened but no noise came out, her throat felt coated in something that she didn't know of and her eyes felt as if all the moisture had left with the Darkness.

Her black hair was messy and untamed, falling in her face messily.

Grasping a the edge of a bookshelf, She pulled herself up. Wood gathered under her fingernails from the effort. Her shaky hands grasped the edges even after she has pulled herself up, her back was hunched and her knees wobbly.

"E-Er-" She gasped out once color returned to her gaze. The blue light sent shock waves of pain through her head.

Jo heaved, vomit splaying on the carpeted floor.

She tried to cough, but the only thing that came up were the contents of her stomach.

She reached for her outdated phone in the folds of her skirt and feebly pressed 'one' on speed dial. The ring of her phone blared loudly.

Staring at it intently and trying to keep herself conscious, she ran her shaking finger over the screen as his name came up brightly. The ringing stopped and she slid down the bookshelf.

" _Joallie_?"

"S-Sean-" She stuttered out, her eyelids fluttered like butterfly wings.

And her head fell to her chest as her phone slipped out of her fingers.

" _Joallie? Jo_?"

The screen of her phone went black.

Sean grabbed his coat, saying goodbye to his date, who was bewildered by his abruptness. His drink spilled onto her white dress, the red stain spread quickly and she screamed.

"Sean!" She screeched.

He didn't hear her as he ran out the door, stuffing his arms into his thin jacket. His fingers danced on his phone, trying to call Jo back. No answer.

He straddled his speeder, the heard kicked on and the wind picked up, blowing his long white jacket back and dirt covering the bottoms.

 _Sean knew she was in the archives at the edge of the city._  
 _"Hey, where you going?" He grabbed Jo's bony shoulder._

 _"Erin called, we're going to the archives. We need to find out as much as we can on Oryx, Auryx, whoever he is, before we wont have a chance." She rushed out, chewing her red painted lips and slipping her narrow feet into her sandals._

 _He raised an eyebrow. "Need me to come with you?"_

 _She quickly shook her head, her bin falling out of place as she brushed crumbs from her lunch on her long blue skirts._

 _"Nah," She laughed, her brown eyes sparking when she looked at him, "just an old dusty place with books."_

 _Sean ran a hand through his orange hair. "Alright. I'll miss you."_

 _Jo stopped rearranging the jewels beaded into her sheer shirt. "Oh, ah, yeah I'll call you." She waved her bedazzled phone in his face._

 _"Yeah.." he trailed off and watched her exit the oriental restaurant, she was piling her hair up into a bun._

And that was the last time he had seen her. It had been more then 24 hours.

As he raced through the streets, he remembered her jeweled clothes, her bedazzled phone case and Ghost, and her red lipstick.

Her spark.

He gunned the engine, "Sir. Are you sure this course of action is wise?"

His Ghost, Tyril, spoke from his shoulder.

Sean ignored his robotic companion, revving the ignition and powering the Sparrow further. He turned down abandoned roads, the roaring of the wind drowning out the cautious voice of his Ghost.

Within ten minutes, he was at the Archives. It was an old remodeled warehouse that still showed the deterioration of the most post-collapse sites.

Vines crawled up the old Roman-style columns, wrapping across the the chipped paint doors and slithering through the gaps in the brick and wood.

It was backed by a lake, that gave the Tower water and power. Across that lake was Fallen territory, and at night you could see the fires they lit, and the curling wood smoke and burning forests.

He stepped through a long ago made hole in the concert wall and rapped his Ghost twice, it's Light pulsing brightly to illuminate the dim blue lighting. The foyer had a high ceiling, with a worn, dangling chandelier. Broken crystal covered the ground, presumably from the old chandelier.

His boots broke the pieces of crystal even more when he stepped on them, the small sound seemed to make the whole room wake up.

Rooms branched off from the foyer, closed by gold painted doors.

He didn't have time to parade through each room trying to find her. She could be in the lowest part of the archives for all he knew.

"Tyril, try to locate where Jo called from." He ordered his floating Ghost. And then both were silent. Sean listened for any signs of life.

The place hadnt been properly cleaned in ages. Torn pages and moldy books littered the floor, and mildewed wood creaked beneath his feet as he took small steps forward with his hunting knife in hand. The place smelled of old books and urine, yet still held a sense of upmost importance. Abandoned importance.

"Yes, sir." Tyril said, and Jo's message replayed softly while it scanned the doors and walls of the archives.

Sean ran his fiber over his sharpened hunting knife, he didn't have time to go home and dig up his other guns.

His stomach tightened when his gaze swept over the staircase. Footprints were in the dust, leading downwards to the older regions of the warehouse.

Recent footprints.

"Alright," he drawled, extending the L, "I know where they went." He said and started stepping down the steep cobbled stairs.

There was a scoff from Tryil, and the scanner beeped. "She's down there, anyways. I can see her heat signature."

Sean didn't acknowledge it, rapidly descending the stairs. Tryil rolled his optics and follower after his master. Light from Tyril was the only thing that illuminates the staircase, it was a wonder Sean didn't trip and fall down the steepness. His breaths came short and fast, eyes trained in front of him.

He stumbled when he took another step and there was no stair, only flat ground. And from Tyrils light, there was heavy, moldy french doors with holes where blue light seeped through. Grasping the golden handle, he opened it quickly, listening to the jumbled words coming from Tyril on Jo's location in the mass expanse of the Archives.

The room was silent, save for his heavy footsteps, the blue light gave his hair a purple hue, and his face was flushed. "Jo?!" He yelled, voice bouncing off the shelves of rotting books.

He called her name more and more consistently as they got closer and closer to her heat signature. His body felt weighed down by an unseen force, an energy. His hand dragged through his hair in worry, and he pinched the bridge of his nose. Tyril's light was shining down on him, and he was speaking to him but the words didn't register.

"Sir," Tyril said to his master. "Sir? Her heat signature is cooling."

Sean turned his head to look up. "Show me."

Tyril projected his stats onto the brick wall of the basement of the archive, it showed a woman figure, slumped against bookshelves on the floor. The reds and oranges, the heat signatures, were flickering and fading into blues. Sean pointed to a white, glowing orb in her chest.

"What is that?" He asked, and looked around the expanse of shelves around them.

"That, sir, is her Light."

"Which means she can be saved, where is she?" Grabbing Tyril, he pulled his bot to his face, making the projection shudder and turn off. The bot's optics glowed a bright orange, before it spoke.

"Thirty-six meters ahead, to the left for fifteen yards." Tyril said, his voice cracking, Sean thought it was because of the heavy aura. The orange cooled to a blue and he let go of his bot before sprinting ahead, counting feet and yards as he went. His hand was tightened around the knife, and his eyes looked wider and more alert in the blue light.

He stopped, up ahead there were couches and a kitchen with books and torn pages put on top of eachother. Jo's computer was closed, and beside it was a stack of ripped, moldy paper with a holo-sticker on top that labeled it _'Auryx'._ His fingers brushed over the water damaged books that weren't labeled. Erin's jacket was thrown over the back of an old green couch. Food was sitting on the coffee table, and was stale, he discovered after popping a piece of bread into his mouth.

 _This was their camp_ , he thought to himself as he tried to gnaw off a piece of hard bread. Green light flickered and caught his attention, and he turned to see one of their candles glow brightly, as if it was just lit.

 _Why would they bring candles?_

 _They wouldn't_ , is the answer. Candles are strictly for ritualistic purposes. Not for reading old books. His heavy footfalls seemed to echo all around him as he got closer to the flaming green.

The wax was black, and melting rapidly as the green flames licked the air. It sat upon an old, metal fashioned candle holder that looked used. There was no sound as he reached his hand out to it, he didn't feel drawn to it, he didn't feel the pull of evil that shrouded the archives. He only saw the green light.

He touched the candle holder, and then it went out with a roaring hiss.

The flames seemed to be dragged down by gravity, encasing the black candle in a bright green, and then the candle disappeared, the candle holder was still there.

He jerked his hand away, and his grip tightened on his knife.

"What the hell?" He whispered into the blue haze.

With shaky hands he picked up the candle holder, it was cold and grey. The handle curved oddly, it had bumps and delves in the basin of the holder. The cold seemed to seep from the holder into his body, and he dropped it. His face felt cold.

The metal clanged on the carpet of the archive floor, and whispers seemed to seep in. The call to Darkness.

A scowel etched itself angrily onto Sean's face. He turned away from it, kicking the candle holder into a corner before heavily walking towards Jo's location.

His body now felt hard and cold, alert and aware of everything. Blue-green eyes were sharp and cunning now more then before.

 _A ritualistic candle in the basement of the archives_. He thought angrily to himself, _why? What kind of spell could possibly be cast and not noticed within the Tower walls?_

The room suddenly seemed more quiet then ever before. Sean could no longer hear Tyril's mumbling, or the whir of the black ceiling fans. He didn't stop walking as the foreboding anxiety grew and enveloped his mind.

He pushed a hand through his messy red hair and stopped, running his thumb on the sharp blade of his knife. He could feel her Light. Softly stepping on the carpet, he rounding a thick book shelve. Then, sounds seemed to click back on, and the whirring of ceiling fans seemed to be the loudest thing in the universe. He could hear Tyril, and his nonsense on irrelevant matters. But he turned completely, and there she was, slouched and fragile looking. Her skirts and hair were a mess, and moldy books were scattered on the floor around her.

Her fingers were splayed open, slender and still. And a single black dot marked her palm.

He dropped down to the floor on his knees, sending dust from the carpet up into the air. Sean wrapped his arms around her, lifting her up while gathering her skirts up from underneath her and snatching her phone. Her skin was abnormally pale, and her mouth was open.

But, he didn't pay attention to her face. He didn't stop to look. He threw her over his back, supporting her by her knees, and sprinted from the Archives.

Before he left, though, he stopped to pick up one thing.

Not Jo's bag, or Erin's bags. No.

He picked up the candle holder.


	13. Eleven

AN: Yes, most of these things did not happen in Bungie's game : Destiny. But, this is my own story, and what probably should have happened. When something as earth/galaxy shattering as a massive alien infecting a city protector, actions greater then putting the victim back on the field, and trusting that individual, should be put into place. Keep in mind you are reading this story from the eyes/perspectives of a handful of characters, and not Ikora, or Zavala.

"Go," Cayde pressed a heavy bag into her hand and a key. "Take Eris' ship from the hangar, and go. I will be in contact."

"Cayde, you need me. You need us." Kyrine gestured to herself, Nate, and Enki.

"That is why you need to go." He persisted, giving Nate a bigger, heavier bag.

Nate didn't say anything, he had known this was what had to happen. Kyrine narrowed her white eyes at Cayde, her emotions bordering on furious. The EXO looked doubtful of his own actions, but offered a smile. "I can't let what happened to Eris happen to you. You are important, to the Tower and the galaxy. Zavala and Ikora are blinded and confused. Go, Kyrine, Nate. I will contact you when I am able."

Nate nudged Kyrine down a dimly lit corridor, but she watched as he took out his Ghost, and materialized out of the corridor. Her heart felt dull and heavy, angry, almost.

She started walking, bag in hand. Enki crawled beside them, and Nate refused to look at the Thrall. Kyrine knew he still didn't approve of the thing that was now partnered with them.

Hall lights flickered and the fluorescent-yellow haze made Kyrine's head hurt. She felt nauseous, grabbing her bare stomach. She had put her white hair up in a pony tail to keep it out of her sweat-slicked face, and her legs burned from climbing all those flights of stairs.

She fleetingly wondered how he felt, carrying her up all those stairs.

The walked quickly, Kyrine's boots thudded on the floor when Nate told her to pick up the pace, that they didn't have all the time in the world. They soon came to an opening that lead to the hangar. It was night, and there were few arriving ships, and few people in general. Amanda Holiday wasn't at her office, Dead Orbit members weren't at their posts. It seemed they had picked the right time to beat a hasty escape.

To where, Kyrine didn't know.

Eris' ship was in a dark corner of the hangar, they found after scanning the area thoroughly. The dropped down onto the cold metal floor. Kyrine winced when her shoes echoed loudly. She put a hand on Nate's muscled shoulder when he made to keep moving. He stopped and let her remove her boots, carrying them in her empty hand. She was now barefoot as they snuck aroud crates and barrels of ship parts. The cold night air chilled them both, and every piece of cold metal they touched furthered their frigidness.

Her ship was already unlocked, interestingly enough. They climbed inside, throwing the bags down as soon as they shut the door.

The eerie green light illuminated the big interior of the ship, banners hung from the walls. And there was a short flight of stairs that led to the sleeping bunks. Nate was already at the control panel as Kyrine hesitantly looked through the bottles of Thrall claws and Alcolyte eyes that were contained in jars, along with other body parts from Hive victims.

She closed the cabinet to Eris' little trinkets and collection, and picked up a glowing blue shard that was in a grey-tinted jar with a sealed wax top. Enki crawled around, picking a corner with fabric layered on top of the group and curling up to sleep.

She carefully picked the jar up, her fingers turning blue from the light it emitted.

"Kyrine, we have to go." Nate said softly.

"I know," She said. She switched off her Ghost, placing it in her bag. She set the jar down carefully on the counter of the kitchenette, before walking up to the control panel where Nate sat. He gestured to the empty chair beside him. She sat, buckling herself in.

Kyrine blew the air out of her cheeks, and shifted in the seat.

Nate looked over to her, the green light bathed her glowing skin, and her eyes glowed brightly despite the feelings he knew she had hanging over her head.

"Cayde said he'd contact us, he will." Nate tried to reassure her.

"It's not even that," She mumbled, starting up the ship, more lights flickered on, blue out-bathed the green lights. "We are leaving our friends. Our fireteam."

He wasn't expecting her to say that. Out of all things, definitely not that. Kyrine seemed so self absorbed and so out-there, none of them really thought of her caring of them. She had never voiced her thoughts on them. To anyone. Now, the underdog of the group has became infected with a disease, and now, she is the person who has the power to disrupt them all.

"We will be back." He told her, reaching out to grab her hand.

She snatched her hand back in surprise, showing just how deeply everything effected her.

She quickly grabbed his hand, welcoming his touch again.

"Okay." She said, not looking at him.

But he was looking at her.

They flew out of the hangar, unnoticed. Their hands still linked as they flew elsewhere. Kyrine shifted when her lower stomach burned and excitement flowed through her when he started swiping the pad of his thumb over her hand. Nate had plugged in coordinates that Cayde had given to him, he didn't know where they were going too. He hoped that what was in the bags was enough to sustain them for the time they were away.

He looked at Kyrine again, who was watching light stream past the ship as they headed to their destination. She felt his eyes and looked back at him, trying to smile.

The farther away they got from the Tower, the more her heart ached.

And he seemed to know that.

Then the ship lurched, and creaking sounded. Kyrine tightened her hand around his.

They were on Mars.

The orange planet was below them a few thousand feet, and there wasn't anything for miles.

Except a crashed, smoking ship.

Kyrine let go of Nate's hand, and got out of her seat. "Keep the ship hovering, we don't know what that is." A million questions flashed through her head as she dug through the bags Cayde sent with them, hurriedly searching for something that will help her get on the ground.

She pulled out an assortment of guns, gear, ammo packs, food rations, clothes, and other things she bypassed. She grabbed an old metal container labeled, _parachute_ , and cracked open the dusty lid.

"Pre-collapse stuff. Cayde always had all the good stuff." She mumbled, fumbling with the instructions, and squinting at the fine print.

"He knew we'd need it." Nate muttered, looking at the coordinates again, making sure they were where they were supposed to be. "We're supposed to be hovering over that crashed ship, Kyrine. Cayde didn't just send us to a random planet at a random location."

She nodded though he couldn't see it and strapped the old parachute on as Nate strapped on a Hive-styled breathing mask that was on Eris' dashboard when Kyrine made to open the side of the ship.

"Are you really going down there?" He asked icily.

"Yes, I am." She confirmed, not needing to wear a mask, as her Awoken heritage made sure of that. Nate narrowed his eyes at her as her adventurous, careless and excited side exposed itself to him. He was reminded of how she disappeared on whims, her recklessness on occasion.

How she thrived in chaos.

There was a cheap plastic button in the middle of all the tightened buckles that would project the rainbow colored parachute when she pressed it.

 _Or so it says,_ she narrowed her eyes at the old English on the old crusty paper instructions.

Nate got up, looking through the items in the bags and then looking out one of the many windows in the ship. "Be careful, Kyrine." He made a point to make eye contact with her.

She hugged him willingly, and smiled at him. "This is what I do." She shrugged and let the hot Marshan air fill the ship. "I'll signal you if you can land, two flashes, land, one flash, don't land."

Kyrine grabbed a gun and kicked her socks off, he shook his head at her half nakedness. Her surplus of exposed skin already glistened with sweat from the humid air. She gave him a smile before taking a leap off of the platform, and he watched her descend.

Warm wind ruffled her air as she fell fast. A grin was plastered to her face, feeling the adrenaline course through her body. She hadn't done this forever.

She hit the orange button, and the rainbow parachute exploded into the air, slowing her descent. Her hands grabbed the coords, and she looked at the horizon of Mars. Despite being so hot, and orange..

Mars was beautiful, to her.

She landed smoothly, and took off the parachute and wrapped it up tightly, laying it in the orange sand. The hot sand soothed her cool toes as she walked up to the smoking ship.

It was not Fallen, Hive, or Cabal. The shimmering material was that of an Awoken armada. She stopped, her hand on the metal.

Explosions, the Dreadnaught, the Awoken. The massacre.

Crow drones lie unmoving, fried out, around the ship, it had seemed that the drones had attempted to repair the ship. Only few of the Awoken have to power, the authority, to command drones. She slowly walked toward the front of the ship.

Uldren Sov, Prince of the Reef, Master of Crows, lie unmoving in the seat of his cruiser.

His dark hair was strewn over his eyes and forehead, and his skin glistened. He clothes were burned and singed, as was his skin. Armor was strewn and had seemed to have been thrown behind the control panel. Kyrine stepped through the shattered dashboard, as other entrances were blocked by sand and deactivated crows. Her hands bled black from grasping shards of glass as she crawled carefully towards him.

The last time she actually saw Uldren was at the Reef, with his sister. His personality alarmed her at first, but over time, she slowly had come to accept that he was overprotective of those for who he cares. They had talked frequently, and she considered them close friends.

The technical last time she saw him, was in her vision.

She slid to sit on his knees, red sand had filled everywhere else and parts of the ships were caving in.

She held a piece of glass under his nose, and breathed out in relief when it became foggy with his breath.

Feeling way out of her comfort zone, she tried to move to a slightly more proper position then sitting on a Prince's knees with her legs on either side of him. She grunted and stopped trying, the hood of the ship had caved in too far.

"Uldren." She said, leaning forward to look at his bruise-covered face.

He didn't respond.

Kyrine slid up farther on him, despite her rising discomfort. She placed her hands on his rough face, "Uldren."

His breathing rose, and she blew out through her nostrils as he opened his yellow eyes.

Blood caked a lot of his features, she picked off dry blood with her fingers boldly.

"You.." He rasped. His face turned ugly fast. "Get. Off." He bit out.

Her heart shuddered.

"It's Kyrine, Uldren. Remember?" She ventured, looking around for a place to slip off of him. There was none. The only thing protecting Uldren and her from a massive cave in was a part of rock that had rammed into the ship above them.

"Kyrine." He said. He was awake now. "They're all gone."

"I know," She said, shaking her head.

"Where am I?" He said, and coughed.

"Mars, Uldren. Mars. We have to get out." She said and watched his eyes as they focused on her.

"Get off of me, Kyrine." He said again, but his eyes didn't narrow at her.

"I can't," She expressed, and grabbed his hand that was dangling beside him. "There is nowhere to move."

"You always were a little vixen," He grunted when he tried to move.

Her face burned at his comment, and she was reminded of their talks and her visits to the reef. He was ruthless, cold hearted, and mean. Often seen as uncaring, but he was tolerant of her. _For whatever reason,_ Kyrine added in her brain.

And she liked him, more then she would care to admit.

She shook her head at him.

"We have to get out." She repeated.

"Why are you dressed like that?" He looked her up and down before looking into her eyes. "Kyrine, what happened?" His hand brushed a piece of white hair that had fallen out of her up do.

"I will tell you later." She grabbed his hand, and started moving backwards and off his hips. "Thrust your legs upwards,"

"You, commanding me?" He bit out.

She pressed her weight down on his legs, making him emit another grunt. He rose his long legs, and she was raising to the level of the sand and glass covered dashboard. She crawled backwards, off his legs and hissed as the glass cut her skin.

"Come on," She urged him and turned on her belly, crawling up the dashboard and back into the intense heat of Mars. Uldren grunted and pulled himself out of the chair, up the dashboard, and placed his booted feet on the sand beside Kyrine.

He looked down at her, she had retrieved a plate of shiny metal, and caught the sunlight, and let the light play off of the metal twice. He looked up, seeing a hulking ship hovering above his own crashed ship.

Then he looked back down at her, her hair had gotten longer, and it was white. Her once blue skin was now white, and her eyes were a ghastly white. And her clothes had been ripped, exposing her legs and her stomach. It was more of her then he had ever had access to or seen. She smiled up at him, and he grunted back to her. The sun was harsh and beated down on them.

Kyrine put down the metal once Eris' ship started to move downwards, descending into the mouth of rock cave that was on the other side of where Uldren's ship had crashed.

She looked up at him. "Uldren.."

He looked down at her. "Yes, Guardian?" He mocked.

"I missed you." She blurted out and hugged him.

Her arms tightly held the man in front of her, who was taken back by her display of affection. No one hugged the Master of Crows. For he was too solid and cold to be affectionate, as others had whispered about him. He had never been seen with a woman, or taken one to bed. He was too caught up in his work, too caught up in his role as Prince to be bothered with affairs and flings.

But he hugged her as well, his arm encasing her small form while keeping her at a comfortable distance.

She hugged him tightly, grabbing onto what remained of his shirt.

"You can let go now." He said rudely, breaking the moment. She smiled at him before turned around and walking to where the ship had landed.

He watched her walk away from him, her curvy form heading for the rubbish ship, his eyes followed her and she bent down to retrieve a rainbow colored object.. He dusted his clothes off, trying to get rid of her odd scent and sweat. He shook his head and followed after her, taking long strides to lead the way.

Nate landed the ship carefully, and switched off the engines. He was unnerved by the man he saw standing with Kyrine. Though he kept a distance, warning bells sounded in his head. He opened the platform, letting it extend to the ground for the two to climb onto.

The man was the first to enter. Tall, and grim looking. He was leaner then Nate, with not as much muscle. But he carried himself as a important person. Awoken, with yellow eyes and glowing white skin, similiar to Kyrine's.

Then Kyrine entered, and he rose an eyebrow at her content face.

"Nate, this is Prince Uldren of the Reef."

 _Now it all made sense,_ he thought sourly.

"Uldren, this is my friend Nate." She continued, and brushed past the two of them to the panel to close the door.

"Hey." Nate greeted with a nod, his arms were crossed.

"Human Guardian," The Awoken man grunted and moved past him to Kyrine, who was switching on the air in the cabin.

Nate narrowed his eyes at the pompous asshole who bumped shoulders with him as he passed.

"Ky, we are in Athabasca, the Candor Isles. Far way from the Marshan City, and any known Cabal hideouts."

"The Candor Isles," The Prince mumbled, his gaze fixed on Kyrine. "I haven't been here since I found the Black Garden."

Nate nodded, deciding to be mature for now.

Kyrine smiled up at him. "I remember you telling me, in the Queen's garden."

He nodded stoically. Kyrine pressed a green button on the control panel, and listened as the ship creaked. The button activated the ships other rooms and units, spreading in the cave.

Nate didn't say anything as he watched the two exchange information on what had happened recently with both of them. She must trust him greatly to share such sensitive information with him. And he must return the trust, knowingly or unknowingly, to let her know what had happened at the Dreadnaught.

 _No holes barred_ , he thought.

"I will assist you, in exchange for something." He lowered his voice to above a whisper.

Kyrine nodded. "Yes?"

"Mara.." He swallowed hard. "I can't feel her. She's lost, our link is lost. I've lost something, and I need your help finding it." His voice was hard and controlled.

Her fingers ghosted over his cheek. "Of course. Let's get you cleaned up." She looked to Nate who had a data pad in his hand, scanning over logs and information Cayde had transferred to him.

"We'll be in the washroom." She nodded at him before leading the Prince away.

Nate silently watched them, before mulling over what all Cayde had packed for him and the information that had been sent to him minutes ago. 


	14. Twelve

p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="c79f221bbbc9b26baed35df654985817"She pushed Uldren down onto the bench in the bathroom. He scowled at her behind her back at her roughness. Dipping a cloth into the basin that she filled with water, she rung it out and then combed the drawers and cabinets for antiseptics and drugs./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="858dbc46579462a98ddfbf5916884790""I don't need to be coddled-" he hissed but was interrupted by a wet rang being thrown at him. His anger spiked at indecently-dressed woman, who hid a smile behind the bottles of labeled liquid./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="92c29fb36e67964f57309b52c6ec1edf"She quickly piled medical pads and binding on the counter. Outdated pill containers covered the black counter top. Turning, she looked at him. He was disappointed to find a smile was on her black lips, and that she was clearly amused at his situation. In her head, she laughed, and grabbed a bottle of blue liquid along with alcohol-damp pads./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="0925e32fe80fafa0af8a12ebdffcfc4e"Bending over to put the items on the floor, she got on her knees in front of him, and started to unclip his armor Her fingers attempted to slide off his gauntlets. He jerked back, glaring. "I can do it myself." He bit out with a glare, and undressed. His armor held deep gashes that reached his skin, blood pooling around the wounds, and was irreparable. Disappointment made his eye tick in anger./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="64150e512565ae080caf7780d0fff912"Kyrine watched him with curiosity. His gruffness wasn't new to her. Despite everything that happened, she was still smiling. This was her vacation, and she didn't want to think of the future at the moment. She looked at Uldren's frustrated face and her heart stuttered, her mouth turned into a temporary frown./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="7ba03043e452dba59e81e2efcc1445a4"He dumped his chest, leg armor and gauntlets on the floor, and she was pulled from her thoughts. She stared at the red sand that dotted the black tiled floor./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="6b620fa82d83236f3c1048f2850c0b94""Uldren." She said softly without looking at him./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="2b4e5c59dc610b317050b1c94a4ee34b"pbr /"What." He snapped back, already annoyed with her./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="4b3558c2a3b97c32c2ffa81dfb2b4346""Shirt, off." She said, gesturing to his black undershirt with a grin./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="e8030058850289ccb17c4ca0f91af8a9""What?" He asked again, his scowl deepened. "No."/p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="cb87628267031581d07fde040fed817b"Sighing, she dug in her boot before drawing out a serrated knife. With a great deal of force, and emotion, she tugged the man towards her body, gripping his shirt. Uldren looked at her in utter confusion, apprehensive of her proximity to his face./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="d40362bb4ff010fe30172fd7091b3548"And sliced the shirt off his body./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="a2c1353b3a43ef2cd37041156b4f2b57"He yelled loudly, though she didn't nick his skin. Her white eyes gave him a pointed look and tore the rest of the shut off with her hands, moodily./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="e084043dc72e8077a2b54ba9121e2ceb""Kyrine!" He shouted with a deep voice./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="d1efc6ccafaa383c303422741340c093""You're bleeding." Kyrine ignored him and slapped an alcohol pad onto his chest. He hissed, fingers flexing, yellow eyes baring into hers./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="df2a746891462a4d88103a1891d8ac0e"Kyrine tried to ignore his body. But she stared at his exposed stomach, and his beefy arms. She removed the pad, watching the gash bubble with bacteria, and then dabbed it with the rag none to gently. He growled, a sound that made her hair stand on end./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="4aba0eff81640294a0dd4fee9ce710c0"Uldren was not a fan of the woman that was slapping pads on him and attacking his wounds with a steaming rag. He didn't like the position they were in, either. She was wedged in between his legs, elbow hovering close to the middle of his legs. Kyrine didn't seem bothered by her lack of proper clothing and where she was, or the suggestive position they were in./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="161bc5ce034b234355b1850210d82edf"He also, didn't like how indecent she was, how her shirt exposed more then half her stomach, and how her pants were ripped. Her elbow nudged his lower region and he growled again, but Kyrine found it halfhearted./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="7658d74c503ac2fce78c0fca03f7b685""I'm helping," her voice startled him with its coolness./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="12f41f40f71c8ea35650f6fb4a2ce479""You, you-" He stumbled over his words as she slapped another burning pad onto him, on his lower stomach. "Kyrine!" His hands were behind him and his legs tightened./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="d10f47571760dd6f148e75669aa548e8""Shh..." She trails off, rubbing his bicep with her hand. The threat that was about to come from his mouth was forgotten. Now, she gently dabbed his wounds. "I'm sorry, but if I wasn't quick, you'd up and leave. Then you'd get infections./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="77a2f19a8ee31659f27bc17e7b8748b5"And she was right. He didn't like to be tended too./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="e8e67a066e91b8de115400b16276acc7""Will you stay put?" She asked softly, looking up at him, and patted his hand./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="e3fa82ff21c813d228b0bd8697b98e81"He narrowed his eyes at her. But nodded./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="b1c51806cc26b51e0b4b5a48e4fcf485""Loosen your legs, I'm stuck." She murmured, twisting herself to show him./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="d3fa7536e3bc769fce24ae76895bae78"He grunted, it was her fault. She hurt him, and it was his reaction. He spread his legs so she could stand up, he watched. Her tight shorts made him scowl at her indecency, among other things that were running through his mind. Kyrine turned around and walked out of the bathroom, smiling at him./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="332256906690ef0c652871fa58b67fc3"She hummed to herself while searching through the supplies, looking for pain killers and bandages. She pulled out a fresh shirt and clean clothes for herself. Nate put a hand on her shoulder, and she looked up to him, and smiled. His hair was tied at his neck, and his face was drawn and serious./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="4f14e021a78cb6a3acb866f98d953b4d""Hey." She nodded to him./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="d89a8c9077f9fa952235ea20bd2a76e2""You alright back there?" He asked gruffly, throwing a glance at the washroom./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="3f9b5161f2e503900a012562079cff3a"She sent him a confused look. "Of course." She hugged him, mumbling into his chest. "Don't worry."/p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="b707710eb184b9d597a41ed46511f659""It's hard not too, with him back there. He's shady, Ky. Be careful." Nate rested his chin on her head. She sniffed him./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="ec9b58d3031631e889240bcf11eba07b""You smell like sweat." She told him with humor. "And man stuff."/p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="66cddec87b9fc1d67d75ecd936b54359"He laughed, and let go of her. "Man stuff."/p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="b46951470f31ff976aedf3bc7e0e3095"She nodded, laughing, and flashed him smile, heading back down the long hallway. Nate shook his head, and went back to the main cabin./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="8b96bd407454e4d06765c2fe01c33de8"Kyrine shut the door behind her, putting down the arm load of things in her hands./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="35ce7c84e50d0bed42809cfc03fc10cb""Took you long enough." Uldren hissed at her./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="73b3bd64decfc2173311b60ffa9e186b"She didn't reply as she kneeled in front of him, nudging his knees apart with her elbows. He narrowed his eyes at her, but let her. She dabbed the bubbling wounds gently, the redness receded slightly and she blew on it./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="47d1a7d240f9f6da189454bf11b5e636""Hold still." She muttered. This time, he didn't reply. Sitting in between his legs again, she poured the blue antiseptic onto a rag. "This is going to sting," Kyrine looked into his blazing eyes, and pressed the rag to his lower stomach. Uldren still maintained eye contact, not wincing or showing any outward emotions. Kyrine moved onto the bigger gash on his chest, and looked down to his pectorals. The Awoken man watched with mild interest as her cheeks heated up./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="43f6925321c1feb24af9d2f24995a47a"She leaned into him with the roll of bandages in her hand, he stiffened at her proximity. Her fingers touched his abs and back as she wrapped the gauze and bindings around him. Her hand darted up to tuck a strand of hair back that brushed his abdomen./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="138a547e4d31deaf7df8a2654c48d80e"She secured his abdomen binding, and then motioned to wrap his chest./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="c6ba857292ae3bfb310dc5ecf58c2870""I got it," he gently grabbed the roll of gauze from her hand and unraveled it./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="07c62713c0eacfdcd98eea016ac9068e"Regardless of his snapping and inconsiderate murmurs, she helped him, having to lean more into him to reach his chest./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="ae12a1c64630f53080d086d239e4d500"Uldren stopped scowling, looking away from her chest that was in his face./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="a2bbff7c1a89bdcc9200cf6621ed66c5""It must be so much work to keep that scowl on your face." She murmured, letting him secure the bindings. All he did was smack her hand away./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="fd135ce8f01e0d6b753c2241ccee4206"She knew he was hurting, and that he was pissy because of his ship and crows. That he was confused and upset about Mara, his sister./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="d88186ee9233b8542578efc48bbf9228"So she didn't snap back at his comments and rebut his actions like she probably would have./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="e1a1820c4890b47f4b53e20b6931f976"He looked at her, his body jerking as he roughly tightened the bandage./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="bf834b4d73954ab964875824686fb2e8"Uldren put his elbows on his knees and leaned forward, his scowl still evident./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="7b21ff528dda29c3a5e543170b6a1bd4"Kyrine leaned back when he shoved his face near hers. He hummed in interest at her movement./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="0111feffacb8beae804f4de9aa679fa6""It's really not hard." He said, lowly. She shoved a white shirt in his face, a smile- almost laugher- bubbled at her lips./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="5a000cdfc4d6a27daba5668c5c7d8246""Put a shirt on." She said, resolve breaking and she picked up her underwear and shirt from the floor./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="f03b9764548111ccceedd3111669d507"Removing herself from in front of him, she peeled off what remained of her top and yanked the black shirt over her head. He watched her with half lidded eyes, she had filled out more, he noted, since he had last physically saw her. Uldren almost scowled in disgust at his thought. Meanwhile, Kyrine's ability to care about changing in front of him dissolved as she stripped the cut off pants and threw them at the man in front of her./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="75062e63004fff6a8b10894f3f09340d"Uldren's scowl was renewed when the cut offs hit his chest. She didn't even bother putting on pants, but refrained from stripping off her underwear./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="d510b7bfad5ce34f0c0452c870b98fc4"When he still sat there, scowling, she scowled at him./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="de108236892b8f5d6b6c2c27a973aace"Now there, was what he had been waiting for./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="761802a44a5362167245c58acc10a800"He saw her lips pull back to expose grey gums and white teeth that were bared to him. Uldren sat back in his seat with an interested expression./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="e7f0bbe133ddfc526162b3ae922b01fb"She walked out of the room, tugging on a pair of thin leggings. Kyrine had forgotten how infuriating he got when he was in a mood, and how reluctant he was to help./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="2a035c3f1edbae663decc024b77db041"Then her attention was drawn to the necklace. The necklace Eris gave her weighed heavily on her chest. She clutched it, and headed for the comm link./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="2dfbcac6367357b60e951d70c22bbfc4"She held it in her hands, and debated on contacting her./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="7f0cbc89b8ff38c1e8e1aca0c03ae072"When she realized she couldn't, she put it down. The comm link only received calls, and didn't call. She stared at the pulsing link, drumming her fingers on the dashboard of the ship./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="2eb47b6b366f96919cb0d1952ee6673b"The back of her neck started to itch, and she clawed at on her way to the kitchenette. Then, it began to burn. Grunting, she tried to ignore it as she set the bag of food on the smooth countertop. Green light flooded the kitchen, like the rest of the ship, and the architecture was Hive styled, which entailed high ceilings, bone-fashioned utensils and dishes, and eerie green-glowing crystals that were the source of light./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="979322557de4b8d0c1260f02366ef607"Kyrine pulled out a pack, and filled up a shallow bowl, with water. With an audible 'plop', she dropped the watery tan-colored substance into the bowl, and watched as it soaked up excess water, bread rising from the dish./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="6846be160169eb3b012dec2caf59050b"Stuffing her face with the purple goo, she scratched the base of her neck. She downed the unpleasant food with a cup of warm packaged milk and ate the flakey bread./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="5ac57f4afaddfc668ebd32a618bea965"Kyrine spit out the milk and bread onto the counter when pain shocked through her body, neck pulsing painfully. Her white hands held onto the black countertop, and liquid ran down her chin./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="522720b52f39d45acb3a196a65a405d9"Her body heated up rapidly, and her head felt light. She pushed herself away from the kitchen, stumbling down the hall and into the empty bathroom./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="8eecc6164291564b142f8fd1a4f4e7c3"She fumbled for a pocket mirror, and lifted her hair to look at her neck./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="9ed73f0e56076c27e7d1dd792cc04ee4"Oryx's Mark pulsed and glowed a bright red, black veins clustered around it and she gulped, her throat feeling queazy./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="5c727ebbd49d9ed53817132c014867e3"She clapped a hand over it, screwing her eyes shut./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="7ba2e4be518440a9d2900ec0862da064"And the pain was gone./p  
p style="text-align: center;" data-p-id="48eca9b898da2852940921e74fb2bd17"strong_/strong/p  
p data-p-id="c75ca02e69b5cca6802b9d2b2e60c6bf"It had been two days, Uldren and Nate were already pissing in each others rations. Metaphorically./p  
p data-p-id="e67035f4ad589ef68a694675a44ad767"Kyrine sighed, rubbing at her face with a white cloth to get the rest of her white face paint off. She had passed a mirror in what looked to be Eris' chambers and saw the flakey, white war paint that almost matched her skin. She ran water in the bathroom in the back of the ship and has been scrubbing at her face more then she needed to./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="cbcdcc0bd83b02eaccff98afe634314d"She checked her mark frequently, rubbing a hand over it subconsciously while eating, washing, and Nate cast her odd glances without her looking./p  
p data-p-id="bed631d763fd7e1aefc270711f89d7b9"Uldren had spared her glances in passing, but mainly, he has been working on his Crows to get his ship up and running./p  
p data-p-id="99b046fb5c9e58d85ebf93ae96154614"Nate has been sitting next to the communicator, waiting for Cayde contact them. And when he received nothing, the burly Titan would glare at Uldren from the main window./p  
p data-p-id="23d124a05d602b44850967f070b94bda"Once Kyrine and Nate had checked over the ration amounts, spare clothing, and weapons, it became clear that Cayde was expecting another person to be with them. Nate silently fumed, angry at Cayde for dumping the Prince of the Reef on him and Kyrine, with all that they were dealing with./p  
p data-p-id="bd600467892d9af9dde9e7120c3fd66b"emNo warning, no message, no motherfucking nothing./em He shouted in his brain, green lights flooded the cabin. He watched as Uldren sat with a Crow in his lap, tinkering away./p  
p data-p-id="712576c24f2102802b4f98f21cbcb97e"A scowl marred his mouth./p  
p data-p-id="08378db7b562a155b93d81c9d721f5c6"The glowing-eyed male was rough around the edges. emHis people skills were less then notable. /ememAnd that was being nice/em. Nates scowl deepened./p  
p data-p-id="ae60814c8d119b361bd2e3d37b393787"Kyrine seemed to like him, and she wore a small smile around him too./p  
p data-p-id="39633033f949f3bea693b999b508fb30"Nate looked to the com link Cayde had provided them with, the blue light pulsed brightly, out of place in the sickly green light./p  
p data-p-id="f957f61a48bbead1ecb8729b8a2a76c9"Back in the washroom, Kyrine finished scrubbing roughly at her skin. Her silvery-white skin glowed brightly. The cosmos seemed to move underneath her skin, like most Awoken. Her white eyes shined brightly./p  
p data-p-id="e95a7f198ad1240d04254f0806812090"She ringed out the soaking cloth, hanging it on the rail./p  
p data-p-id="9a0134d0671d3e2d6485f7cdc180c8a1"Kyrine was smiling, thinking of Uldren messing around with his crows outside the ship. Her thoughts, despite being clouded by Oryx and the like, flashed back to him. His yellow eyes, deep voice, and Raven black hair./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="14b59b7251374c0c25d7b3d92e10f60b"He hadn't talked to her for two days./p  
p data-p-id="76604f65d5dc6bb44309e590a81de416"Then, she shook her head at herself. Who knew she was capable of attraction -oogling, as Erin slyly calls it-, and the like? She was almost happy that they had found him. The icy man had grown on her for months on end at her time staying at the Reef. The ship-tech grave site was mysterious and beautiful in its own way./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="268e2433276fe32b88b9748dfce598a2"She remembered how she had been sent to Mara Sov, for aid on rebellious Fallen that skulked in their midst. And how Uldren had privately spoke with her on the matter, and how he led her to the courtyard that showed off the purple expanse of the Reef./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="d34ded079678a583fbfef3505b707db5"The Reef was essentially a grave site home to old, pre-Collapse tech and floating, crashed ships. It was a ring of ship parts that orbited a bright purple star. The neighboring nebula bathed the site in a eerily beautiful purple light. It was quite the site at the right time, as Uldren had told her, and showed her./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="027ffcba9be5122c524195dac2a8955b"em"You like it?" He asked as she stated up at the purple expanse. /em/p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="1615fec53f7cb9bdd4102534af877e28"emShe didn't say much, as he had learned from being close the her. She nodded wordlessly, blue purple-hued hair glowing in the nebulas light. /em/p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="f488f04cfdf50c454a7eb65067f04764"emHe didn't smile, simply looking away from her to the cosmos. Presumably, they were close to the Milky Way, or even in it, floating in star dust. Kyrine didn't know, and for once, she simply stared in awe. /em/p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="c409bb025cfee931b2b58949581cbafd"emThis wasn't new aliens, that gave her the awestruck feeling, or a new weapon from the gunsmith, that provoked her excitement. /em/p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="9356160968eafc8cb529e0bafb91e879"emThis was nothing like that, no threats, no bullets popping, magazines running out, no screams of harmful aliens. /em/p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="196cd3ab798d289dcc79384aaf840a41"emSilent, purple. /em/p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="cc5a704d0cc3ffef9c59a62fb38e8a1c"emHer blue eyes were unlike anything he had seen on a woman before, glowing and warm. /em/p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="f4c0ab41f1b40820df2692bdad2b4619"emHe never expected a heartless, agent of the Traveler, to be warm. /em/p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="8991c37d65178b65ed4def850bdec4f1"emBut h/ememer heart remained to be seen. /em/p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="b530cf6b239acd12b3f540f9e5ba4f82"em"It's pleasant." She whispered to the cloudy purple abyss. Light showed through the gas-filled clouds/em emand ship parts. /em/p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="9c06a8466d86d658b7a4e6ecc2d460d9"emIt was one of those nights, where she had let her hair out of its bun and let it down. He had always rose an eyebrow at her half shaven head. She claimed at one point in one of their conversations, that she shaved it to spite/em emher superiors/em. emAnd instead of getting a/ememn /ememaggravated response, she got nothing but a snort and a pat on the back from her master. /em/p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="fcd4e5288bb0b5670542948909aeccef"emIt gave her a wild, crazed look that almost didn't suit the way her eyes remained soft and calculating. /em/p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="4b8a481c15129617e39f52172f6fea14"em"It is." He agreed, looking back up to the hazy clouds floating, casting shadows on them and the courtyard full of glowing flowers. /em/p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="dd3320b8d92df28ea58bd8349ab1307a"emHer oversized shirt hung loose, and she was dressed in shorts. Her red glasses slid down her nose. /em/p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="b5e252a9778dc4fb6454fa739bfb3a09"emShe was quiet. /em/p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="b7b5a368bc070985a41b7d10b6dea17d"em"Why do you wear glasses?" He wondered aloud, mentally cursing himself when she looked to him quickly. /em/p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="1ab94f0e2e108eea52f6df061ce41439"em"So I can see." Was her soft spoken reply. /em/p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="7095ff2754cd7b39987fb03de99e6a58"emHe bristled at her blunt answer. /em/p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="1da3f0fc13bcfa812eaca9674edb085f"em"Guardians don't wear glasses." He said. /em/p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="f24153fc01b59c9e5a481aed3b7f9125"emShe shrugged and smiled at him. Her purple lips curved. "It makes everything sharper. I can see well, but I like to look at the little details, it's what makes the bigger things important."/em/p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="a9084e05ef8269bda045f2310f18d891"emThat was more then she had said in one breath then she had over the past months they had been/em emworking together. /em/p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="3201d948b43a6f8247bc95e67beb215c"emUldren didn't smile, because Uldren Sov didn't smile. Ever. /em/p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="22efde92eef6a264b1ebec2db8e7321a"emShe shook her head to herself, noting how he arched a brow, again, from beside her. /em/p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="a5a9ee5b8b55fd226eb47bdf83d84717"Kyrine picked up an unmarked jar sitting beside the black sink, holding it up to the green light. It was filled with thick black liquid and had a metal top on it. She sniffed it, and found no odor, then took the top off. Dipping her finger in it, she brought the black-covered finger to her face./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="b9b1fd4a5297870ef330f2780dd68686"And smeared it down the bridge of her nose. It was paint. War paint, though she never thought Eris Morn would be the one for vanity./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="180f763c38612fe77af99ac439775c36"She had the fleeting thought; emDid she leave it for me/em?/p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="660dfe62f4fdb6287d89bfc141d7dc6a"Kyrine smeared it across her face, in her usual style./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="466d972d5d1c8bdcc1b2223cbf4031e3"Putting her fingers under the water, she washed the rest of the heavy paint off and screwed the lid back on. She put the jar back after staring at it for a while longer./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="9b3cfbf00e69c859189ca75c68e6b7d4"She combed through her hair with her fingers, it had grown from the last time she shaved the side, one side longer then the other. And was white as the snow that covered the mountain tops on Earth./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="aa0c62f3f6346d526bc87fcef23c761f"Humming to herself, she left the bathroom and walked down the hall of the ship to her temporary quarters, pressing her finger on a scanner. The door slid open, and she let it close behind her./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="0d30c0711211b02c79e17724a2df93eb"Uldren was sitting, looking out the window in Kyrine's quarters./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="33d4494e0db7385f60256b47c4d3e25d""Uldren," she softly said in wonder./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="818f37c8902f31048d0f5d92a16b387d""Guardian," he stonily said. Her brows drew together at his formal address./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="5187ba91644d3f66bdd970cb968ba146""What's wrong?" She sat on the the twin bed, grasping the white sheets./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="6c312d7b2fc131b05ee5bc70a99fca7c""I want to..." He looked at her, his yellow eyes stirred something in her. "Thank you."/p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="d90bcdf9cb07cb320df9fb3202847a5e"The room felt warm suddenly, and she offered a smile. His eyes darted to her black stained lips. "You don't have to thank me." Her words were soft./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="c4a2f6c83e01adfcd979fa80af1fad5a""I have a request," He changed the subject. Her smile deepened. He was never one for thank yous or sentiment. Kyrine waited for him to finish. "Tell me what happened." Uldren demanded, almost. His voice had a gravely edge to it, and the smile on her face was gone. br /Hebr / noted how her body stiffened, back becoming straighter and breasts straining against her fitting shirt./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="02376068afa19309682da10cdba4b674""I missed your bluntness." She remarked, and then, she told him. He didn't look at her like she though he would, no repulsion, no hatred, mild surprise. Instead he sat next to her, and she laid down on her bed, telling him what had happened./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="c4ea90128fdb76bbe385e433878e4097"Her openness with Uldren surprised her. It took her years to work up to the little friendship she had with Nate. It was unsettling how she talked easily with a man who probably didn't care./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="9dee38b5f47ae3a05959450d8c922788"But if he didn't care, why ask?/p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="843c67efc3bdfe2dd0592fa62470f073"She pushed that out of her head. She was a warrior. Not a romantic./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="4e48e178975efab1d832a752caab7d08"It was silent when she finishedspan style="text-decoration: underline;",/span ears didn't cloud her vision like she expected./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="c95c57615131dc7ece8545cf4548b06a"She looked up to see Uldren undressing, setting his worn, dented, armor beside the small bed. His under shirt was wet with sweat from worrying in the Martian air and stuck to his body. He was muscly and broad shouldered for a Hunter, she thought. Her walls went up when he removed his boots, and pulled off his guards./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="315a9bfa9ac060db81f70cfb43eac2c9"Then, he laid beside her./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="c711ec367fb2dcb9db554d83017e1141""What are you doing?" She kept the uneasiness out of her voice./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="364f88f0c08441f7562bce4b59f165f0"He didn't reply./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="2c99617b375a62eeab72e2ced1e9f656"Comforting women was foreign to the Prince of the Reef. He never bothered with them. He begrudgingly admitted to himself that Kyrine was a friend. And from what his sister explained to him, you are supposed to be there for friends./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="852ffbc01d6bb3072b6e8a928a63e92e"It was amusing to him, that she let go of trying to hide her body language. Her emotions were out on display, like he never saw before./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="9e7ad8321ca599f35a20992734ca2128""I'm laying next to you." He cockily informed her./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="73712949955e6e1206722f37258add07"Her shoulders relaxed.. It almost unnerved him how comfortable she was around him at the moment. He noted the fresh black war paint on her cheeks, nose, forehead, and chin./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="f0df641163d164ff8e2c53c7dcdc5729""Uldren?" She asked after many minutes of comforting silence./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="345af7e2e246a0305a3e87e8fc482412""Kyrine?" The formalness seemed to be thrown out the window as soon as he removed his clothes. She scooted her back to the wall to make room for him./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="7605cd7c8cb826426bbb50cfe6720746"He slowly moved more onto the hard bed. "Yes?" /p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="e30747c9948c61825dd1c9ac3980dbe6""I.." She stopped, words catching in her throat./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="67fdd2668a32e3ae58bb44f4230b9580"Concern didn't lace his voice or enter his features, curiosity did./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="e03cac268e2a5f9ac7ae8319658c5ef1""I like you a lot." She breathed./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="132716e6a9b20ebf8476360af47d2939"His yellow eyes widened a fraction, they were not calculating, or scrutinizing. Uldren Sov was speechless. She refused to look at him./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="72691287c99787eec8371396bf5061e8"Harshly biting the inside of her cheek, she thought:/p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="ca54ce2fcb5c3f6ecfe1554f69eb4cf1"emI'm /emsoem not Guardian material/em./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="63f4017833709ff84d54ba8e819a0de9"He got up from the bed, and Kyrine's chest constricted. She held her breath. The air suddenly felt thick./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="3b8755ded56f857e14a7a5e56cd235f0"And he left./p  
p style="text-align: center;" data-p-id="a82ae610b4b940d327559898d5a38e78"_/p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="35e603aba8a7674465458593b2f9ba91"Nate was still going through the supplies, sorting them out in cupboards and boxes when Uldren came from the hall, shoulders squared and without any protective armor./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="14fff9ae0fcb110829f7fdc4c7f39011"The Titan ignored him as he passed, his aura seemed to be crackling with indecisiveness. He smacked his hand on a button by the exit. And the bridge extended to the Mart air and suffocating heat./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="db124e0773fda3f168edfba68a883534"The Master of Crows was out quickly, the bridge folded up and closed behind him. Nate raised a dark eyebrow at the the raven-haired mans abrupt behavior. Then he shrugged./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="635f35ec035df4931f91c171ad587014"A shrill beeping noise pulsed through the humid air, coming from the front of the ship. Nate dropped the Vanguard-issued auto rifle he had been holding onto the pile of weapons and jogged to the main cabin, switching the green lights on. Sitting on the dashboard, the comm link was pulsing blue. He hurriedly pressed the black button on it, watching Cayde's face waver in front of him, white particles mimicked his movements./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="4b1e95966df5c6ff1b3839fed3a1ea80"em"Guardian, can you see me?"/em Cayde's voice crackled, filling the room with static. Nate rolled his eyes in annoyance at the Hunter, anger built up slowly as he thought about Uldren, outside./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="32c0c9ab57fd54c47f46966585bd182c"em"I'm going to take that as a yes, and that you have found the Prince of the Reef."/em Cayde continued, nodding to himself. Nate scowled freely at his superior./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="cd6193531ae6883f1c7beaca04fd568c""Was that your plan? It clearly was, for us to find him and rescue his royal ass from the red sand. It was also evident in the surplus of supplies that are enough to last us for five months!" Nate vented, and the white particles mocked Cayde's smirk./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="11f57ab296fa0c2f77818c3e43a613b6"em"We need him, Nathaniel."/em Cayde tried to reason. "I'm sure in the coming weeks you'll realize that. But I didn't call you to talk about the Prince. It's Oryx." By the end his sentence his voice took a grim tone./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="aa24f6290e8940c7ef20f02f0095fd58"Nate kept his insulting comments on the Prince's usefulness to himself./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="4301387f4ac9fb9c4c8f3af27e1d5c0c"em"The Prince knows where the Dreadnaught is located, as his sparkly glowy-eyed army was wiped out there. I'm sure if Kyrine delved into her memories of the attack she'd know too. We need the location, and then we will need you three to infiltrate the ship, scout it out, you know." /emHe rambled unprofessionally, snapping his fingers for emphasis./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="6318659ac71c40dc378dd2d2c66d7f7e"He didn't give Nate time to answer or say something, he continued./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="6c8be0838df336c27568f86145d3fb87"em"On that note, Sean, your Hunter friend, brought in an unconscious friend of his. Warlock, blingy-blangy weapons and gear. Still unconscious, by the way. Sean brought her in. In other news, Erin, the Cryptarch's apprentice, is MIA. Gone. No trace. Etc."/em he glanced above him for a split second, and then looked down below him, and finally back to Nate -who was glaring- , and finished: em"Yea."/em/p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="c17f701a3cbf0ed04c92db1aed78f4b4"Nate rose an eyebrow, and Cayde "Look, we just need to know where the Dreadnaught is. Get to that, get to Oryx, shut down Oryx, Vanguard happy."/em He simplified./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="750dc46fdf4659d5cfc34a094e7def19"He dark haired man narrowed his eyes. "It is funny how you stray form the fact, that you banished us from our homeland for the time being."/p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="e1c13f213514686922391be9595acd0f"This time, Cayde narrowed his eyes. em"I'm beginning to think you don't see it. You come back now, and Kyrine's a lab rat. You come back now, you're branded as traitors to the Traveler. You come back, and it's your-"/em He pointed harshly at Nate, em"-and millions die from Oryx's hand."/em/p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="4977d45d0c9cb81adad6e1e314d896bb"Nate popped his knuckles, and picked at the underneath of his fingernails./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="9a3317a69ec8ec177d7a35ec0990f31e"em"I will contact you again in two days. Be safe." /emCayde said in a hushed tone, and the sound of footsteps echoed, before his image was gone./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="c013ca9e02f62eede0d30c6b2f6fe196"Nate threw the comm link on the dashboard, and rose from the chair. He headed down the hallway to Kyrine's temporary quarters./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="7e271477a1696c3e5deecaa64ac06490"Kyrine was scratching the back of her neck when Nate knocked on the door, she quickly put her hand in her lap before he came in. Strands of dark hair had fallen out of his ponytail, and his thick eyebrows were drawn together in annoyance./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="7f92952939259cbc997841a2ca61b780""Hey," She said quietly. Her mark stopped itching./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="a2d9d5cd7ed2aeaa44fcca10f68f7c1a"He nodded to her and sat down on a chair across from the bed. "Kyrine, I need you to do something for me."/p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="7cebf182c2934d7d2d2b82e824b1b5bb"She looked at him with tired eyes, "What do you need?"/p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="c05aecf3fd0afb9b126b92b512da3cd2""I need you to remember." Nate said, leaning toward her in his chair, she noticeably flinched at his proximity./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="a7407c189e8a74a30e53d56353dc251d""You need to know where the Dreadnaught is..." She trailed after a few seconds of thought-filled silence. "And you need me to remember where it was." She sat up from where she was laying, and he noted how the black face paint gave her a ghastly look. Kyrine- ghastly. Her black lips parted to say something else, but she abruptly closed her mouth./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="346fc4dc78ed5c78d5363c7e867ca62c""Not just me- everyone, needs to know." He said, softly, but there was an edge to his voice. "Cayde made contact, and I need you to remember, please."/p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="efe5f7613fc23ff0bbf8a014bb8bd4a2""Why can't you ask Uldren, he was the one that fought the Dreadnaught." She was being stubborn, and he didn't enjoy it when her face twisted in annoyance and partial dread./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="42000f63d64dc3a0158740513a7a7f17"He sighed, running a hand though his mussed hair. "I thought I would ask you first."/p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="a56cf314a450e0711e64efca5bf3815a"Nate knew why- why she didn't want to remember. Or he thought he did. She kept the scowl off her face, and let a weary smile slip onto her face./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="1e1da6cbe188690408a5126fa8f346f5""I will try," She said, her tone an octave lower then it was previously. "On one condition."/p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="9e50510e6b04d562961b7eeeb0ff4b72"He chuckled, leaning back in the hard chair. "What's that?"/p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="b566b090429454d0a3b4c009431d634a""You let me go to the City." She said, before clarifying at his guarded expression. "The Martian City, the remnants anyway."/p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="36644fd15d3ffcd29530cc2687ca318b"The Martian City- crawling with violent Cabal and falling buildings. Once, the mighty city of Freehold reached above the skyline; with towering skyscrapers and advanced technology. Darkness quickly spread, Cabal and Vex alike taking over, leaving the once great city to be swathed in thick sand and roaring winds. Dunes covered more then half of the city's towers and homes. Phobos - the name chilled her skin - hovered next to the dune-covered planet./p  
p data-p-id="fcb77ef0704b51e0e630b36c89ed28d0"But Kyrine's insatiable itch to explore deserted, dangerous runes, was not one to be clenched./p  
p data-p-id="0d58f17a3455fa3e5a4969fd9db5fa36"Just the very thought of turning an unexplored corner in a crumbling ruin, made chills run up her clothed arms./p  
p data-p-id="172425dc18aef0c914a4712687c326c2"She watched his face, but he betrayed nothing of his inner thoughts toward her proposal./p  
p data-p-id="c4e49fd535895d408f80fc5c30a2f9a6""I'll just ask The Price," He decided, and she gasped./p  
p data-p-id="068d96e15f1673d27ce5960afd733247""Nate! I will remember, just a few hours in Freehold," emOr a day/em, she added in her thoughts, "and I'll be back." She quickly rose to the edge of the bed, gripping the fabric tightly. Her brows were drew together, and her mouth fell open as she pleaded./p  
p data-p-id="32fa81a7567d05ec735255aa6af00a9c"He folded his arms, and she recognized it as a sign of superiority and power over her, "I won't be able to come with you. And if anything were to happen, you couldn't contact me. If you turn on communications with your Ghost, the Vanguard will be sending people after us once they pin your location."/p  
p data-p-id="5fd48dc29624795b5c8d7baa3d02e109""I can take Uldren with me," She urged with a hard edge to her voice./p  
p data-p-id="e8bc4e5fc5021b0c10182eebb2445e7b"Nate threw a disgusted look her way and she mentally recoiled./p  
p data-p-id="d0a4305b103aace04e12ddba5782def7""Whatever." He said, almost growled, to himself./p  
p data-p-id="8bed4c5393d51a93555932862e9852a2""That's a yes!" She yelled as he /br /br /p  
p data-p-id="bc67242b78407cbab78f06b0e51a7d3b"_br /br /br /p  
p data-p-id="ad755ea757182a7a061f214c0e60046b"Ikora Rey paced little steps, looking at the girl in Sean's arms. Her body was limp, jeweled skirts hanging off her legs. It was Joallie Hilzaan, Warlock. One of her students, disciples./p  
p data-p-id="8cea3bf15a35d42de1432ef098b41976""Table," Ikora gestured to Sean, who carefully laid his friend on the table./p  
p data-p-id="5f905dc0eab88ab1042564ee1efdc9c5"It was late, and warm orange light bathed the Hall, and the meeting room of the Vanguard. Sean watched his superior pace back and forth, and he tried to keep his worrying at bay. It had been complicated to get here, and only for Ikora to murmur a few words was less then reassuring./p  
p data-p-id="0693ccf841a36db48ed0f14c56300802"Then, she stopped, raising her bruised head. He looked at her face, black eye, swollen cheeks and lips. Fleetingly, he wondered who had the balls to raise a hand to one of the most important women in the Last City. He didn't pester her with questions, he never had before, and he was not about to annoy her at that moment./p  
p data-p-id="1b0e0b88733a9a60697a938a5cdfa46c"She turned to look at him, and frown lines marred her skin, making her look older then she really was. Zavala stood behind her, glowing eyes fixated on Jo./p  
p data-p-id="6bb4b05393f1429c8b6de872f9d0eb8e""We don't know anything, and we won't until she wakes. It is best for us to put her in the infirmary, and wait." Zavala said, looking to Ikora with a steady gaze. The Warlock looked at Sean, her heavy black brows pulling together./p  
p data-p-id="e8e842599e854494e2b67c10a0a0dde4""Guardian, take her to her living space." She commanded. "We would like to speak to you as well."/p  
p data-p-id="e014656ca0235613910af94de98814f7"Dread filled his midsection as he spoke. "Yes?"/p  
p data-p-id="613543f6e7f66f698de74b463ec94f93"Zavala interrupted before Ikora could utter a word. "Nathaniel Kaluuta, and Kyrine, have disappeared." His mouth formed a thin line and he watched for reaction on Sean's face. The red-head's eyes widened, and he looked up between the two Vanguard./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="98731f73295fd5964d73cc853c7fe3e8""When?"/p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="f4092b8ac4b06fa35585afbc1b0bcf97""Less then twenty-four hours, Guardian. We though you should know." Zavala finished, watching the man bite his lip and put his palms on the table. He looked angry, now."/p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="07f1cbf80b1c7f218690aaf7359abf96""Why?" He let little emotion pass through his words./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="42db41564fed0f2cf932c0b579ad33d7""We do not know." Ikora said quietly, Sean noted how she rose a hand to her bruised lips./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="5621c787f678344a6d56eb78d4c53b29"Zavala stepped in front of Ikora, "We shall discuss this later, for now, tend to your friend." Sean narrowed his eyes at the sound of his authority-rich voice, and looked up at the Awoken./p  
p style="text-align: left;" data-p-id="de15a83a58b0771971cfcf9502ac8356""Yes, Sir." Sean kept his voice low and soft. He gently picked up Jo, and exited the Hall with a medical droid in tow./p  
p data-p-id="74ae4bdff4fb30b0d39bd6930882691d"Ikora watched him go, and Zavala turned his heal to look at his companion. "Will you be okay?" He asked./p  
p data-p-id="7405bd6b57aba3ee2a144160036a713c"She turned away from him, looking at the ship roster from the hangar that she had brought up earlier. It glowed blue, showing each ship that docked and left with authorization, and stats on the dates and times each ship had entered or departed. Swipping her hand across the screen, it disappeared./p  
p data-p-id="3b9d6cab76c54989789113c70d067081""I will be fine. We must call in Cayde-6, and we can start finding that Hunter, and the Titan." She said, the orange glow made her face seem warm./p  
p data-p-id="4bcefc33fa4af5f5c0069d2f6cd7fe91""Cayde defended them, Ikora. He would not agree to helping us." Zavala son died apprehensive to the idea./p  
p data-p-id="e171c0c68391cd9f84619200fb176384""I've already talked to him." She looked up, outside the great window and to the mountain tops. "He knew he was in the wrong, and claimed he got defensive over his student. And I feel for him, I expect you too as well." Reaching up and grabbing the necklace that hung from her neck, she craned her head to smile at him./p  
p data-p-id="bc38b0b034d1c2d39b4a04288ce1000b"Zavala came to stand beside her, towering over the woman. "Indeed. Find them, then we take on Oryx."/p  
p data-p-id="bcde3fc7b9da143230a0e1ce3afbabb8"The moon hung overhead, bathing the mountains in soft white light./p  
p data-p-id="29227e5370a0ca00700973a5fc80b635""Indeed." Ikora whispered./p 


	15. Thirteen

Uldren Sov wore a scowl, ripping apart one of his Crows(1) with his bare hands, throwing it into the sand. Circuits buzzed and crackled in the sand, and black feathers land beside the mechanical bird. He looked at what he had done and rolled his eyes, his vision strayed to the remnants of his deteriorating ship. His fingers rubbed at the pulsing wound on his abdomen, blood soaking through the white shirt, and he stood.

His Crows were irreparable, as was his ship, as was his armour.

Looking through the intel some of his remaining Crows had brought back, they were a few days walk from any civilization, Cabal camp, or Freehold. But they were closer then he thought to the Black Garden.

He leaned back against his chair in the main cabin of his ship, a large screen projected in front of him, showing the glowing, pulsing portal that lead to the Black Garden. Vex, mechanical hostile beings, crowd around the entrance, firing at Cabal that are inching closer the the glowing portal. Raising an eyebrow, he swipes his hand, and more images and video surveillance of the barren wasteland of Mars show up. _Nothing notable,_ he muses in his head, before swiping again.

Crossing his arms, he watches as Kyrine's video feed. The Titan who unnerves him, left the room with a dark look on his face and left Kyrine with a confident smirk on her face.

He shifted uneasily in his chair, the Prince of the Reef did not feel guilt for many things, but having his Crows keep a watch over her without her knowledge made it into his list of guilty actions. Uldren played back the audio, catching snippets of mentionings of the Dreadnaught's location, himself, and her remembering. He knew enough for his disapproval of the Titan to grow. It seemed the feelings between them were mutual, though.

Kyrine, now, has an emotionless expression on her face, laying back down on the mattress and turned to face the wall.

He narrowed his eyes, her feelings had certainly developed since he had last spoke to her, before all of this. But he couldn't say that he didn't miss having her around.

Her bluntness with him about her feelings towards him disrupted his cool composure and it made him unconfortable. He knew she was good at reading people, and soon enough she would figure him out, and that made him more uneasy.

Uldren frowned when he was hit with flashbacks of the Battle of Saturn. Him and his army charging the Dreadnaught, his sister, Mara Sov, unleashing her power and damaging the Dreadnaught. The wave of power Oryx unleashed, destroying countless lives, and sending him crashing into Mars, barely alive.

And his sister's unknown status.

He looked up, and shaked his head. The sun was setting, and light was dimming in the sand-filled, destroyed cabin. On the screen, Kyrine was gone from her chambers. He narrowed his eyes, just a second ago she was laying down.

"Uldren."

"Think of the devil and she shall appear," He said dryly, the old saying dripping off his tounge. He slammed a fist quickly on the Crow who was projecting intel, and the image sputtered and disappeared. His stomach churned in guilt, her face was still a slate of expressionlessness. _Had she seen?_ He questioned in his mind. She was at the very front of the ship, where she had first crawled into get him.

She was outfitted in her Hunter attire, slim, close fitting, and has her hand cannon hanging loosely from her belt. The hooded Kell's(2) cloak that Varkis(3) had given her awhile back skimmed her ankles. "Thinking of me?" She questioned, sliding to where he was, but keeping a distance.

He kept his body still, and a cool expression was plastered onto his face, he gave her a smirk.

"I'm going out, to patrol," She sighed. "Nate says I need someone to go with, and he's monitoring the comms, so?" Kyrine hedged around the unspoken question.

He glanced over her, she wouldn't show it, but he could see it in her eyes, her excitement.

Awkwardness followed, and her words to him back in her room linge in his mind, and not her question.

 _"I like you a lot,"_

Kyrine brushed a white strand of hair out of her face, and slips closer to the man in front of her, putting a hand on his shoulder. "I'll change your bandages, before we leave." She said, pulling out her pack and setting medical gauze and a tiny bottle of antiseptic on the dashboard.

She lifted his shirt and quickly changed his bandages, and he made no sound, only staring into nothing.

The Awoken woman was close to figuring him out, from his little ticks, how he looked elsewhere, and the lack of resistance he showed the last time she put her hands on him. It was all slowly coming together in her mind, but she held back on over-analyzing. He was a person too, and she had no right to pick him apart, especially after what he had went through at the Battle of Saturn.

"Cayde, I don't think you are familiar with him, he has supplied you with rations and new armour." She said when she was done, smoothing down his shirt before producing a stack of clothes from her pack. "They aren't Reef issued, but they'll work."

He took them quickly, looking over them, and stood. She helped him fasten the buckles and tighten the waistband of his belt, and then she slid the hand cannon that was holstered onto her own belt, into his with a snap. She handed him a long black cloak that bore the symbol of the Devil's on the back, similar to her own.

"I thought you'd enjoy it," She said as she watched him put it on.

Uldren looked up then, and into her eyes.

"Very much so." He muttered.

Kyrine stepped closer to him with a smile, "And if you press right..here.." Her fingers slipped behind his ear, and pressed a button behind the shell of his ear. "Your helmet comes on." She gave a laugh at his expression before his face was swallowed in a Dead Orbit(4) issued helm.

She laughed more, the helm was designed to look like a skull, with glowing yellow heatsinks in the eyes. "You look..."

"Don't."

"Dead."

"Are we going to go or not?" he crossed his arms. She cleared her throat to tone down her laughter.

She reached behind him to bring the black hood up over his head. "Yes."

Uldren crawled onto the dashboard and out of the ship, and Kyrine followed after, but not before picking up a destroyed Crow, smoothing out its ruffled feathers, before placing it on one of the shelves in the cabin before following after the Prince.

"Shouldn't we stay stationed here?" Uldren wondered looking to his companion, who flashed him a small smile, before taking out her Ghost, lightly touching its optics, turning it on.

"I made a deal with Nate, and now I get to go out. With you, to explore. And I recommend turning off your heatsinks, it's going to get cold, fast." She told him, pressing behind her ear, her helmet coming over her face. Her heatsinks turned off, and she looked in his direction. "I'm giving you a shader, it'll help blend in." Kyrine's armour turned a dull red, matching Mar's red sand.

Seconds later, Uldren activated his own shader, and her Ghost materialized her sparrow in front of her. Uldren walked towards her as she straddled the hovering speeder, checking the rounds in her shotgun.

"Get on," She said, body thrumming with excitement.

He did as she said, sliding behind her. She strapped the heavy cylinder-shaped gun to her back before revving her speeder, and taking off.

"My Ghost says we have half an hour, until we reach the outskirts of Freehold!" Kyrine yelled into the wind.

Uldren had wrapped his big arms around her tiny frame. "You're INSUFFERABLE!" He shouted when she picked up more speed, she grinned, though he couldn't see. This was the Uldren she had first met, with a hatred towards the Guardians, and instant insults spilling from his mouth. "Now I remember, WHY I hated you those first few months! You're RECKLESS!" He roared into her earpiece, causing her to bark out a laugh, and make a sharp left onto a worn path.

Kyrine scooted back in her seat, pushing her rump into Uldren's crotch, before slamming her feet down onto the accelerator.

"KYRINE!"

"INSUFFERA-" He was about to finish when she slammed on the breaks. He looked up, and his jaw dropped. Kyrine reached up and toggled her helmet off, staring in awe. Horrible awe. She turned back to him, eyes wide. "Do you see what I see?"

He didn't respond, instead he slid off the bike with a grim expression, and offered a hand to her. She took his hand gently, and let her Ghost store the speeder. The cold bit through their armour, and wind made the sand blow around them, but it did not obscure their vision of Freehold.

Or more accurately, the giant building that were being ate up by dark matter.

"What is this?" He said lowly, a hand on his gun.

"The Taken have made it here, already." Dread filled her, and Uldren released her hand. "I guess we made it to Freehold sooner then we thought."

He looked at her, "This isn't Freehold, this was one of the science outpost about ten miles from the main city, I've been here. There is a tunnel nearby, and we can get to Freehold faster." He made a move to continue forward, towards the tunnel, when Kyrine ran past him, towards the towering skyscraper.

"Kyrine!" He yelled, watching as her helmet overtook her face. She was kicking up red sand as she raced to the outpost.

Groaning, the Prince ran after her, readying his gun.

The double doors had been blown off, and skeletons dressed in deteriorating lab coats were slumped against the desk on the other side of the room. They were left here to die during the fall of Freehold, the two guessed, with no supplies. Kyrine went up the stairs, and her hand shook wildly. Shots were heard from higher up, resonating down the winding staircase. Uldren bumped her hand with his hand cannon.

"Get it together, Guardian of Light." He sneered. Kyrine rolled her eyes, anxiousness replaced with annoyance. She questioned her feelings for him fleetingly as he took up the lead.

Gunshots stopped, and everything went quiet. Her grip on the knives she was holding tightened, Uldren remained calm and collected.

"Why has it stopped?"She asked urgently.

"Because someone -something- is dead." Uldren said back, running up the stairs, not bothering to conceal his heavy footsteps. She ran after him, and soon they reached the top level of the science outpost. Blood covered the walls, and a man -Warlock, by the looks of his robes and glowing purple hand- was face first on the tile floor, blood covering the floor. Black matter was splayed across the walls, and whispers reached out, coiling around Uldren and Kyrine.

"No," Kyrine hissed, running over to the man. Uldren scowled, looking around the room, smashed monitors, and purple light fizzed from lit screens on the walls.

 ** _LOCKDOWN_** , was pulsing in purple and red coloring on a window overlooking the sea of red sand.

"It seems to me, that this man here strayed from his Fireteam, and found this place. And whatever was in it." Uldren said, shooting at the projector, the word disappeared. Kyrine turned the man over, who had a giant wound in his gut that was festering with dark matter. The stench of blood reach her nose and she put her helmet back on.

"He's alive. Barely." She concluded, letting her Ghost scan him.

"Can you repair him?" Kyrine asked her Ghost as it probed the man's body.

"Yes, give me ten minutes," It replied with an impatient voice and Kyrine turned away to look at Uldren. He holstered his gun and knelt beside her.

"We need to get going, something is coming over the horizon towards this place, and its not friendly." Uldren said, and cast a look over the Guardian who had fallen in battle. "My assumption is that it is of the same origin that injured this...Guardian. Careless." He spat.

Kyrine lightly batted his arm, "Hush, Uldren, we can't leave him. We'll take him with us, to Freehold. I can check to see who his teammates are and we'll hand him over to them." She nodded to herself. Uldren sighed. "I didn't know you were on for compassion."

Uldren picked up the Warlock's body carefully, letting the Ghost work over it, and they descended down the stairs carefully. Once outside, Kyrine let Uldren pilot the sparrow ]. Her hands gripped Uldren's sides and she pressed herself to his back, watching her Ghost repair the gaping hole in his stomach. The sped to the tunnel, presumably it was once a hallway in a building before the Collapse, but now it was underground, filled with red sand and falling metal.

"His name is Heren, and he's in a team with a woman named Nien, and a man named Kyle. Their coordinates put them at the Tharsis Junction, a few blocks from Freehold Station. He's not even marked as MIA, Uldren. They don't even know." She said lowly, knowing he probably couldn't hear her over the roaring wind.

Uldren ignored her as much as he could, pissed at the fact she was fawning over a man with a hole in his gut, and that she made him carry the fool, and distracted at how she pressed herself against him harder then needed. He gripped the handles tightly, staring ahead as Freehold came into view. Tharsis Junction was an old train station, with a lobby, and stairs leading down to the lower tracks.

Two Guardians sat on top of the awning of the lobby, looking up at the night sky, and eating their rations. Uldren stopped the speeder, and the Ghost returned to Kyrine once it finished repairing all it could on the unconscious man. He picked up the sand-covered Warlock, and Kyrine identified the two on top of the awning as Nien and Kyle, who were laughing.

Uldren scowled, his dislike for Guardians deepened, and Kyrine put a hand on his shoulder as they approached the sand covered station.

"Hey!" He yelled, and Kyrine nudged him. He didn't take his helmet off, neither of them did, Traveler forbid if the Guardians knew who they were. The two on top of the awning looked down, and their eyes widened at the sight of their friend. The two rushed down, spurting questions about how it was that two Hunters found their friend. Uldren didn't speak a word as he shoved the Warlock to his friends. Kyrine tried to catch her companions attention after the other Guardians left, chattering worriedly.

Kyrine slid into his line of vison. "Are you okay?"

He gave a nod before pushing past her. She followed after him, silent.

"The Taken are on Mars." He stopped, looking back at her helmet-covered face.

"They are on Earth too." She whispered, more to herself then to Uldren. First, on Phobos, then Earth, and now Mars. They are spreading quickly, and Kyrine's initial excitement turned cold and numb. They are exploring the beginning of Armageddon. "Should we go back, to the ship?" She voiced her thoughts.

He turned to face her completely. "That is up to you. Either way, the threat remains. If you want to have fun, I suggest you do it now." His voice was grim, and he decided to think about the rapidly spreading Darkness later. It was quite possibly one of the most immature things he had done since he was an early teen. He questioned Kyrine's influence on him. He knows of her rebellious exploits, and how she goes off grid. She had shared that information over a private dinner one night when she had visited the Reef.

"Maybe we could explore on the way back?" She said. "We need to warn Nate."

Uldren did not try to hold back the sigh at the mention of the Titan's name. Behind her helmet, Kyrine rose an eyebrow and shifted her booted feet in the red sand.

"As you wish." He said snootily, and she was reminded of the first time she met him. How he looked down at her as a peasant and not as a Guardian to the Last City, his snobby, superior tone, and she laughed. Uldren coughed.

"What are you laughing at?" He asked as she brought out her speeder. She gestured for him to get on before her. She slipped in front of him, allowing him to press his chest to her back and grip the handle bars.

She laughed more. He had never been around her when she unleashed such a display of emotion. "You! Just- remember the day we met?"

He sighed dramatically before revving the sparrow. "Vaguely."

"I had come to the Reef, looking for the Black Garden, and you were the snobbiest man I had ever met. I remember, clearly, wanting to end your life. You walked around all high and mighty, like the Prince you are. Insulting me, ridiculing me. Having bring back the head of a Vex Gatelord." She said in a posh voice. Uldren was taken aback by the level of emotion in her voice.

I rolled his eyes. "Oh, yes. _Now_ I remember." He said dryly, and Kyrine reached up to put her hands next to his on the grips. Her body vibrated with laughter and he shifted against her, and they took off, leaving Tharsis Junction.

Kyrine took her helmet off as soon as they got into Eris' ship. She took one look at Nate and saw the tiredness and wariness in his eyes. "The Taken are on Mars, near Freehold." Her voice was hard. The Titan looked to Uldren, who stood closely behind her.

"They were on Phobos, Kyrine. This shouldn't have been a surprise." Nate said, giving her a look. "I talked to Cayde, the Dreadnaught is in the rings of Saturn. We set out tomorrow."

She would've recoiled if she was surprised by his voice. He must have had a bad talk with Cayde. "Nate, the Taken are spreading quicker then I would've imagined. They're in the Tower, you saw it." Her voice was low and hushed.

Nate ran a hand through his long hair. "Yes, I know. Cayde said that himself, and a few other trusted Guardians had taken care of that. Tomorrow, we head for the Dreadnaught, I already have the stealth drive Cayde sent me to get." He showed the hunk of metal to Kyrine and Uldren. Kyrine rose an eyebrow.

"You left Mars?"

He sighed. "I had to get the stealth drive. I encountered Oryx as well, or at least a projection. Cayde gave me a run for my glimmer to get that drive." He pointed at it. "He should have had you do it, I couldn't fit into a lot of those tiny places." Kyrine exhaled, letting go of the fact that he left the planet without telling her. The mention of Oryx made her stomach lurch.

She gave him a small smile. "Cayde always did like challenges." Nate nodded in agreement and ripped open a package of dried meat.

"I suggest you eat, and get some rest. We have a big day ahead of us tomorrow." He said, chewing on the jerky and walking back to his quarters.

Uldren scowled, "I do not like that man." Kyrine craned her head up to look at him.

"I didn't notice." Before he could retort with a snarky comment she continued. "Let's salvage what we can from you ship, crows included, and we'll eat and sleep." Uldren closed his mouth and nodded. They both put their helmets back on and went back out into the biting cold of Mars.


	16. Fourteen

Uldren was rolling around on his cot, grumbling incoherently. He was still half asleep. Kyrine watched him, standing off to the side of the room with a hot cup of tea. She tapped her fingers on the sides of the plastic cup. Nate had told her fifteen minutes ago to get the 'princess' out of bed and to get ready. At the moment, the Titan was plugging in coordinates for the Dreadnaught.

She dressed in her black sports bra and red joggers, her barefeet tapping the rough floor. Sweat glistened on her body, as she had just finished her morning workout routine. Her hand rested on her bare hip, fingers drifting over her damp skin.

It was then she noticed that Uldren had stopped shifting around in bed, and was quiet. That was because he was awake, and staring at her with golden eyes.

"Uldren, you're awake." She said, her tone light.

"And you've been staring." He noted, his tone already snarky.

Kyrine put her weight on her two feet, and rolled her eyes, giving him a pointed look. "I came to wake you up. Saturn's Ring's remember?"

He swung his legs over the side of the cot, not facing her. His back muscles twitched and moved as he stretched. "Yes," He sounded annoyed. "How could I forget?"

Uldren shrugged a black shirt on, standing and looking at the Hunter. "Put some clothes on," He snarled, no humor in his voice, and pushed past her. Kyrine's chest felt cold as she walked back to her own chambers, towel in hand with her toiletries.

Her eyes were narrowed at nothing as she washed off the sweat from her skin and soaped her hair. She rubbed her fingers against her skull, lips pursed in thought.

She rubbed a grey bar of soap down the length of her body, suds collecting at the drain. There was a knock. Kyrine hastily wrapped a bath robe around herself -Cayde had supplied them well- before letting the door slide open.

Nate rose an eyebrow at the perturbed looking woman in front of him. She rose an eyebrow, wordlessly asking what he wanted.

"Getting ready to launch. Get ready." He turned to leave, but he turned back with a small smirk. She had enough of smirks and snarkiness from the men on this ship. "Guessing the princess put you in a sour mood."

She smacked the panel, letting the door slide in between them. Nate laughed out loud, making sure she could hear his mockery, as his footsteps faded.

Disgruntled, more so then she was five minutes ago, she slipped on a tight tank and itchy leggings. She groped around the counter, looking for her red glasses.

"Traveler- damn it-" She bent over to snatch up her fallen glasses, slipping them up her nose and running her fingers through her wet hair as she exited the bathroom.

Her uniform was hung on a hook in her temporary quarters. The red sand of Mars was dusted across her uniform, and the clay red shader was still there. She activated her black shader, donning her armor and snapping her cloak into place.

The ship was eerily quiet, save for the heaters roaring, trying to keep the biting cold out of the Hive-fashioned ship. She bristled as her mind wandered back to Uldren, absently tracing her helm.

"I wonder..." She mumbled, finished the thought in her head.

What was his problem?

But, it seems that the Prince of the Reef always had some sort of problem. Or was it he just liked to insult people?

She had been insulted before, by other Guardians, by alien races, etc, but it made her twitch in discontent when Uldren Sov picked her apart.

Kyrine's finger twitched as she picked paint off the brand new helm.

After minutes of picking, she stopped.

"I'm distracting myself. The Dreadnaught, I just don't want to think about it, is all." She muttered, tucking the abused helmet shader between many old, rotting books, so she could get her boots on.

'Miss, the argumentative males are searching for you.'

Kyrine sighed softly, slipping on her boots and fastening them tightly. Much softer than her other old and worn ones. "Of course they are. Where would I go on such a small ship?" She asked herself as she holstered her Last Word on her hip, and her Longbow across her back. She was about to grab her helmet when she spotted a slick picture tucked in between the pages of a rotting book.

"Ghost, notify them I'll be in the cabin soon." Kyrine said, waving away the floating white bot. It rolled it's optics at her mindlessness, but floated away.

She picked at the nasty binding, covered in stains and what looked like Thrall bones.

Speaking of Thralls, she looked to Enki, who had been comatose for the past two days in her quarters. He hadn't responded to either her, or Nate, and Uldren didn't even know of his existence at the moment.

She turned back to the book, prying it off the shelve.

"Toland's Journal..." Her heart thumped in her throat, looking to the picture of Eris, before going down into The Pit. Beautiful, fiery hair and fair skin, and there was even a slight curl to her lips as she stood with five others. Names were scribbled above each person, but she couldn't make out the letters.

Before The Pit.

Kyrine sucked in a breath, tucking the laminated photo back into the moldy pages. The pages stunk, smell wafting up to her nose. She closed the book, placing it, gently, back on the bookshelf.

She wasn't ashamed to admit, that at this point, she didn't care what happened to her.

It was bad, because it labeled her reckless, unfit for duty, because of the fact that she was unpredictable. She knew this, but it was half wrong. She was fit for duty, but she also knew the Vanguard thought differently. And that, is why she had to stay away. She was a threat to them, and she would probably always be.

While Kyrine didn't care about what happened to her, she cared about the people around her. Nate, Jo, Erin, Sean, Sara..Uldren.

Uldren?

"Come on, you slow _thing_."

Kyrine turned sharply, staring at Uldren. Speak of the devil and he shall appear, she thought. The organ in her chest shook in it's cage as she watched his eyes sneakily sweep over her quarters. Her fingers lightly shook as she grasped the helm with both hands.

"Of course." She inclined her head, passing him. He blew out an annoyed breath, walking with her.

Was it the the Reefborn Awoken didn't value relationships..or feelings, perhaps? Uldren didn't seem capable of anything, except unyielding sarcasm and wittiness. Kyrine bristled slightly as he walked beside her, outfitted in his Tower-issued armor, silent. Or was it, her feelings were misplaced?

The hallway was dark, very dark.

She was about to take another step when Uldren stepped into her line of vision. She hit his chest, blinking repeatedly. Looking up, she found his abnormal stare bearing down on her, she hastily backed away from the towering Awoken. Thoughts, ideas, and explanations swirled in her mind like a storm. Uldren displayed no ticks of what he was thinking, his arms were crossed, sternly, and his raven bang hung over half of his golden eye.

Kyrine spoke first, "Uldren?" He gripped her plated upper-arm, tightly, and she thought his eyes softened a fraction, their hardened glaze smoothing over.

"I'll be with you."

He turned, walking at a slow pace down the hallway.

Kyrine's mouth opened and closed, but her body acted before her thoughts aligned, fingers latching onto his shoulders and pulling him close. He remained still, body lax against the front of her own. Her fingers curled, blunt nails catching balling into a fist.

"You are not any different from our first encounter. You may look different, Kyrine. But you are still the woman that I have grown…accustomed to. Don't think any different. I remember when we first met, and I remember the courtyard, and you are still the same." She leaned back, looking at his chest instead of his eyes.

"You can look at me, I won't turn you to stone." He quipped, annoyed.

Her white, glowing eyes found his golden ones. Oryx had not faded from her mind, no, he couldn't, not with the whispers every time she removed the rock from her neck. Or with the dark caress of evil at night, echoing in her nightmares. His yellow eyes were fixated on her wandering ones. Eye contact had never been her strong suit, he'd noticed from their extended time together, and it probably never would be. Her eyes scanned the column of his neck, the collar of his cape, and then drifted back up to his lips, nose, and to his eyes.

"I know." Her voice was low, a murmur. An image of a bloody Ikora skittered across her mind, and her stomach felt cold.

"Uldren, we are immortal, yes?" She asked, brows creasing.

His face remained stoic, focused. "Guardians, are, essentially, immortal until the death of their Ghost, as I understand." His voice was deep.

Kyrine continued, "Yes, I know, but..you." It was curiosity, mixed with concern. Would he be able to stay with her? Or would he die long before she would? It was selfish, yes, she knew. It was also self preservation.

Amused, he smirked down at her. "While I am not immortal, I have a long life-span, and possess many skills regarding my survival." He knew exactly what she was thinking about. And it was not very comforting. She was in her the prime of her time of being a Guardian, while he was at least a five decades older than her.

Kyrine resisted hugging him, but smiled at him softly, and nudged him forward. He didn't return her smile as they walked down the creaking ship. Nate was at the front of the ship, fingers drumming on the dashboard, looking at illuminated coordinates in front of him. The Hunters rose an eyebrow at the Titan's uptightness, but Kyrine laid a hand on his bulky shoulder anyway. He looked up, frustration lining his face.

"Ready to go?" He turned around to look at the two, his gaze lingering on Uldren.

Uldren smirked arrogantly. "Oh of course, Guardian."

Nate didn't say anything else. He turned back around, pressing the blinking light on the communicator. Cayde coughed, his holograph waving at the trio before he started to speak. Uldren raised an eyebrow at the Vanguard and shifted his gaze to Kyrine, who was watching her commander intently. His bright optics swept over the three and he raised his hand to prop itself under his chin, offering a smile.

" _Guardians-"_ Uldren snorted. " _Princess."_ The Prince scowled at the Exo, refraining from baring his teeth. That was the man - machine - that saved him, after all, from what Kyrine had told him. " _I hope you are all accommodating well to the...ah, unfortunate circumstances. Let's be honest, it's actually-"_

"Cayde." Nate interrupted. The Hunter Vanguard threw him a look with his damaged optics, before addressing Kyrine. " _How are you holding up?"_

She nodded, gaze darting momentarily before she steadily met his eyes. "I'm doing well." Her superior nodded fast, face contorted in a comical show of approval.

" _I am assuming,"_ He clasped his hands together, and jutted them in the direction the icy Titan, " _that you know what it is you're doing? Because if not, I really need to-"_

"Yes. They know." Nate interrupted yet again, "And we are ready to go."

The Exo took a deep breath, " _Y'know, I'm starting to think that you put on some twisted panties this morning, mister. Either that or Zavala really does turn his recruits into little,"_ He gestured a cube with his gloved hands and shook his head back and forth, kissing his teeth. " _Ice cube._ " Nate scowled and Uldren made sure to make his boisterous chuckle heard. The Titan turned his dark gaze to the laughing Prince and Kyrine stepped around Uldren, nodding at Nate and clearing her throat.

Her white eyes widened at her supervisors rugged featured. Optics were cracked and in some places, pieces on his face were stripped away, exposed wires pulsed openly. He didn't seem to be bothered by it, as he smiled at her.

" _My favorite!_ " He chattered, once again slapping his hands together in delight. " _I have some presents for you when you get back-"_ Cayde stopped himself, a rueful smile lifted his face plates. " _Soon, you'll be back soon, Guardian."_ Kyrine nodded, brows drawn and tight smile twisted her face. He opened his mouth, then he shut it. She passed it off, sitting down and fastening herself to a chair. Nate and Uldren were silently staring at eachother, she saw, through the windows reflection.

"It only took one blast from the Dreadnaught." Kyrine's Ghost's voice was distant. She looked up, seeing his his optics dart over the dead bodies of the Awoken. Her stomach churned at the sight of the floating limbs and red splatters on ship parts. Her eyes never strayed to Uldren's, who was deathly silent.

Ghost looked at his Guardian. " _When you're through, it'll never fire again."_ Cayde's voice sounded from in front of them. This time, Nate and Kyrine glanced at each other before staring at the torn ships and floating metal in the sky. "Just don't forget to plant the transmat link so other Guardians can land." Uldren gripped the link in his gloved hands tightly.

" _Not everybody's got stealth tech and a...ship that smells like Hive…"_ He trailed off, waiting for a snarky comment or laughter. When no one replied he added, "Good luck Guardians. And your Majesty." He added. Kyrine stifled a laugh when Uldren started tapping his foot in annoyance.

The Awoken man crouched beside her. "And how do we-"

"Activating stealth drive." Ghost and Nate chimed in, and she looked up at Uldren with amusement in her white eyes. He growled and sat down. Kyrine swung a wide turn gripping the throttles tightly. Her eyes widened at the sight in front of her.

"Oh. My _God_." She whispered. The Dreadnaught loomed before her, a mass of Darkness and instability washed over her as her fingers shook violently. Whispers and callings of the Dark seemed to seem through the dormant vents of Eris' ship. And she didn't feel like she was with her friends any longer. She shrieked when a hand was on her shoulder, the ship jerking to the side with her frantic body movements. Uldren grabbed her shoulders and hissed in her ear.

"It's just a ship. It's just a ship." His breath was hot, and was her body now. Dead Awoken brushed the ship, and a dead, gloved hand slid over the glass above them. Uldren growled, squeezing her shoulders. "Come on."

Kyrine flexed her fingers, and twitched her shoulders. Uldren let go, anger and uncomfortableness radiating off of him. He stood behind her now. Nate got up, shoving Uldren aside to stand behind the woman.

"I'm picking up fluctuations in the power conduit." Ghost announced, floating beside his shaking Guardian. Kyrine's eyes widened, and she looked up at the massive Dreadnaught before looking down to Cayde's voice, urgency written clear on her face.

" _Relax_ ," Cayde through a hand up dismissively. " _I modified the tech myself. Probably just Saturn's radio storms running interference._ " Uldren gripped Kyrine's arm as Nate nodded and said a few words to Cayde. She didn't have time to look up and see the knowing in his eyes as red lights pulsed noisily throughout the main cabin. The alarm covered their faces in a harsh red.

"It's malfunctioning!" Ghost exclaimed, hovering close to Kyrine's face. She let go of the controls, lurching forward to read the failure notices showing up on the diagnostics. Fear flooded her body.

" _Did you_ break _my stealth drive?!_ " Cayde hollered. The ship shuddered, and the stealth drive shut off.

"We're exposed! Kyrine, get us out of here! Now!" Nate shouted, preparing to launch back to Earth. The beeping of the alarm thundered and seemed to shake the ship, and Kyrine's fear was replaced with anger.

She growled, black lips pulling back to snarl at the Titan. "I know we're exposed! Shut up! We can't turn back around, all the commands have been overridden, we're going to be blown to fucking bits!"

"Shut. Up." Uldren snapped. The two Guardians glared at the Prince.

There was a pause. "You think they can see us?" Ghost pondered aloud. Uldren threw his hands up, and motioned wildly to her Ghost.

"YES." He exaggerated. Kyrine's heart hammered. The fear was back. And so was Enki, who was clinging to the ceiling, awake and breathing. Her mouth fell open, and Uldren shouted in fear at the sight of the Thrall above him. A rumbling noise caused all of them to look to the Deadnaught. Energy rimmed the sides of the huge craft, running to the center circle. A hum made the ship rock.

"I think they can see us!" Ghost yelled, rocketing to the front of the cabin. Kyrine gunned the controls, heading right for the Dreadnaught. Nate yelled loud in her ear words she couldn't understand. Enki dropped from the ceiling and on top of an unsuspecting Uldren. The two men were thrown to the back of the ship.

She yelled. "I can make it!" Her hands shoved the throttles full speed ahead as a mass of dark matter pooled at the center of the Dreadnaught. "C'mon, c'mon." Somewhere along the way, she realized Uldren didn't possess a Ghost. She unstrapped herseld from her seat, and her body flew backwards, slamming beside the Prince, who was unconscious. She grabbed his hand and hugged him to her body.

" _Ghost!"_ She screamed as the white light enveloped Eris' ship, and a deafening rumble resounded.


End file.
